Riddle Me This
by sweetlilsis
Summary: Sequel to The Killing Joke. As Barbara tries to get over her vicious attack at the hands of the Joker, she seeks therapy, but does her psychiatrist really have what's best for her in mind? HIATUS
1. Prologue

**AN : I want to thank my faithful readers and reviewers. But I think special mention is necessary for a few who read my fic right from the beginning; Laurenmlbc, chocoluvr, arinsmith24, onetreefan, Minerva's Cat, RoGueSurfer, lucky7steph, UncloudedDragon, jesskahboom, LOPE, Miss Quartermain, etc. **

**Just because I didn't mention someone doesn't mean I didn't appreaciate any of your reviews. I appreaciate each and every one of the reviews I get. So thanks to everyone. **

**And this sequel is for you guys. **

* * *

**Prologue**

"Barbara…"

The sound of my name awoke me from my current daydream. It seemed like I've been having a lot of those recently.

I look towards the direction of where I heard my name being called.

Linda was standing there wearing her usual blue scrubs. She hadn't really changed that much. Her hair had grown lightly, but that was about it. She still wore that pretty smile on her face, and her eyes still held that glimmer of kindness and hope.

Sometimes I envied her despite the fact that she was my friend. She was beautiful, full of life, and most importantly she could walk.

Bruce was coming today and I wanted nothing more to see him. I was worried though Linda would probably be here and I secretly feel like they're attracted to each other or something.

Or perhaps I'm just being insecure, after all I feel so unattractive in this darn wheel chair. My legs had gotten thinner from the lack of movement, I got paler as well. The color of my hair seemed to have gotten duller as well.

I feel extremely horrible. Like I'm drowning, or getting sucked into an endless black hole.

Sometimes I want to die. I tell no one about my feelings, not my dad, or Linda, or even Bruce for that concern.

I want to tell them, but I can't. What will they think?

I saw Linda walking towards me, her eyes filled with concern. She had noticed my depressing mood, despite my best attempts to hide it.

"Hey Babs, are you alright?" She asks me gently, her voice edged with worry.

I wanted to confess to her the truth, so badly.

"I'm alright."

I winced mentally, I was bad at hiding my emotions, and Linda was very empathic.

She saw right through my lies and kneeled down in front of me, so we could be eye to eye.

"I know you're not alright, Babs. And don't worry, it's alright if you're feeling a bit depressed, for someone in you're situation it's completely normal. I would actually worry more if you were acting all happy and cheery." She says while looking me straight in the eyes.

Her hand came down on my own. I smile at her, she was such a good friend, and I was very lucky to have someone like her taking care of me.

"It's just, you know I thought after three months I'd be over this, you know?"

She nods encouragingly, agreeing with me completely.

"You know, it's alright if you feel like seeing a therapist about this."

I frown at the word therapist.

"You mean a shrink?"

Linda frowns a bit as well, mostly because of my pessimistic reaction to her suggestion and my heavily guarded question. It wasn't that I was being skeptical about seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist, but I've never been to one, except for the annual evaluations, which are mandatory in my line of work. But that didn't really count, did it?

"Well yes." Linda answers my question after awhile.

Was I really ready to see a psychiatrist?

"You know what Linda, I'll think about it."

-


	2. Bruce

**Chapter One**

**Bruce**

I brushed my dull red hair while staring at my reflection on the full length mirror in my bedroom.

My hair is getting really long, it was now right below my shoulders. I had thick hair so it's very hard for me to take care of it.

I winced as the comb got tangled in a few knots. I pressed the brush harder into my scalp and pulled roughly until the knots untangled. I ran my finger through it, pleased with the fact that it was no longer tangled and it actually looked decent for once.

I sigh staring as I inspected my reflection further; I was wearing a knee-length skirt which was definitely not flattering considering how thin my legs had gotten. They looked like sticks. Pale white sticks.

I have bags under my eyes, which are quite noticeable next to my pale complexion.

The color of my skin was another problem, once my skin had been a nice beige shade, but now the lack of sunlight in the past few months had turned my skin a luminous shade of ivory.

I look horrible, sometimes I look in the mirror and I don't even recognize myself anymore.

Oh, Bruce. What do you see when you look at me?

I wonder if you still see that pretty idealistic attorney, or if the only thing you see is a woman in a wheel chair.

I heard the ringing of a bell, and it took me a while to realize that it was the doorbell Linda had installed for me recently.

"I'm coming!" I yelled loudly hoping he heard the sound of my voice through all the barriers between us.

I conducted my chair out of the room, and struggled a bit until I reached the door. I almost opened the door, but I hesitated realizing that the last time I opened it without asking who it was I got shot in the abdomen.

I shake my head as I try to forget that horrible ordeal.

"Who is it?" I ask even though I already had an idea about who it was.

"It's Bruce."

Just as expected.

I opened the door and wheeled myself back. Bruce came in, he was dressed down wearing dark blue jeans, and a leather belt and a black and white stripped buttoned up shirt.

As always he looked extremely handsome, his hair swept back as usual, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows. I noticed he was holding a large bouquet of white lilies and I blushed deeply when I comprehended they were for me.

"You remembered." I say as he set the bouquet down on the coffee table.

I had told him once that white lilies are my favorite flower.

He smiles at me and I almost melt. I try to keep my composure as I smile back at him.

After setting the bouquet down he walks towards me. His arms outstretched as he leans down towards me, his strong arms enveloping me in a tight hug.

I return his embrace to the best of my abilities. I breathe in his cologne and I feel myself crumble.

I have such strong feelings for this man, but I'm scared to follow them; it wasn't just the wheel chair. The last person whom I had ever come close to being in love with was Harvey, and that didn't end well.

After a couple of seconds Bruce broke the embrace, leaning back and inspecting me slowly.

"Have you eaten anything?" He asks with a suspicious look on his face.

"Yes." I lie quickly.

I no longer had any appetite and I would only eat when it was completely necessary.

Bruce still looked suspicious, but he let the subject go quickly.

"Well I'm going to make us some coffee." He says moving towards the kitchen.

And I almost suppress a laugh, it was a little funny to see the billionaire playboy fumbling around my little kitchen as he tried to brew us both some coffee.

Bruce had taken a liking to doing things for me when he visited, whether it was making coffee, or fetching me something. If it had been someone else it would definitely bother me, but for some reason Bruce was the exception. He could almost do anything and I wouldn't really give much thought to it.

He finished the coffee a little too soon. I tried not to shudder as I sipped it realizing it was still cold.

He sipped his coffee as well; his reaction was just like mine. He looked over at me and noticed I was not drinking the rest of my coffee.

"I'm really not good at making coffee, I don't know why I even try." He says jokingly yet at the same time serious. This seemed to be something Bruce was very good at.

"It's alright. I think it's sweet." I said while chuckling lightly.

We talked for awhile about things like the economy and the people we cared about.

"So how's Linda?" He asked curiously.

I felt my heart nearly stop as I tried not to think of reasons why he was asking me about Linda. Maybe he was interested in her…

"Oh, she's fine. Actually we had a conversation earlier. She thinks I need to see a shrink." I say in a skeptical voice. Like I thought it was a ridiculous idea.

"You mean a psychiatrist?" He asks while silently correcting me.

"Yes, a psychiatrist."

He seems pensive, like he's thinking deeply about something. He looks at the floor for a moment before looking back at me.

"That's actually a good idea."

Somehow I knew he was going to say that. As much as I love Bruce he's almost predictable.

Maybe I should see a psychiatrist, after all one little visit to the head doctor wouldn't hurt.

"Alright. You and Linda are both right. I'll check the yellow pages and see if I can find anything." I say agreeing with the billionaire completely.

It almost unnerved me how much of an influence Bruce seemed to have over me. But I tried not to think much more of it as I watched him smile at me encouragingly.

--

Reviews will be awarded with chocolate bunnies.


	3. Nightmare

**AN: I want to thank UncloudedDragon personally for all the constructive critiscism he's given me. Thank you because you've helped me a lot. English is still my second language and that makes writing a bit hard for me sometimes. So thanks a lot, your critiscism is appreciated. **

**Chapter Two**

**Nightmare**

"_Hi." _

_The Joker's voice rang through my ear drums, then the sound of gun fire after that. And then I could feel a terrible pain coming from my abdomen. _

"_Oh, I'm sorry…Did I hurt you?" His voice was mocking as he smiled down at me. _

_My eyes watered and I tried desperately not to let my weakness show; I didn't want this bastard to enjoy this more then he already was. _

_He spoke and I barely listened, the pain was unbearable. I tried to move, but I couldn't. My muscles didn't seem to obey the commands they were being given by my brain. _

_I knew I was dreaming, this had already happened, and yet it felt so real. Like I was back there lying on my carpet, bleeding and helpless with the Joker leaning over me smiling. _

_I could see him so clearly, every little detail stood out. _

_His greasy green hair, the color of his suit, the smell of gunpowder and blood, the madness in his eyes, his yellow rotting teeth, and that horrible painted on grin. _

_Wake up Babs. This is a dream, a nightmare. This already happened. Wake up!_

_I try to tell myself to wake up, but I can't..._

_His hand began to tear at my blouse. I could see the men behind him leering, snickering as he groped me. _

_Then he tore my skirt, before moving to my chest again. His knife felt as cold as ice against my skin. _

_He stood up after he was done, and began taking pictures. Rearranging me in different positions like I was a fragile porcelain doll. _

_After he was done with the camera, he sat back and stared at me like I was some kind of work of art. _

_And then…_

_He let his men have their fun, which consisted of groping and prodding. They were like small curious children who had never touched or even laid eyes on a woman before, and I was their test subject._

_My eyes felt heavy and suddenly I felt very tired._

_I could hear the Joker laughing from the distance, always mocking me…_

_Barbara, wake up!_

As I awoke from my lasted nightmare I gasped and took a deep mouthfull of air.

It's always the same nightmare, every night for three months. You'd think after a while I would have gotten over it. Well apparently not. The nightmare was still frightening, and it always had the same effect on me.

I just want to get over this already, go back to my life. A life without the memory of my horrible ordeal. A life without the memory of the Joker.

Linda was right, I need help; professional help. Apparently the love from my family and friends isn't enough.

But then again I was attacked by a homicidal clown, that doesn't really happen to people often.

I love my family deeply, but they can't seem to understand what is happening to me, what I'm going through.

Linda is sweet, but she's never even had anything remotely bad happen to her, and Bruce.

Oh Bruce.

He tries so desperately to help me, but in the end he just makes me feel useless.

I need a professional; someone who can listen to all my troubles, someone who won't judge me, someone who can understand what I'm going through.

--

PS. I know the chapters are short, but don't worry they will eventually get longer.

I'm also planning on considering other first POV's, like Gordon's, and Bruce's.

Tell me what you guys think about the idea.


	4. Dr Edward Nygma

**AN : I am very sorry that I have not been able to update anytime soon, it's just I've been really busy with school lately, but I actually found some time to update. Thank God. **

**Anyways just so you guys know the Edward Nygma in this story is based on the Elseworlds mini series Thrillkiller's version of the character. In which he plays Barbara's psychiatrist. But don't worry he will eventually become the Riddler. I'm going to incorporate that into the story later on. **

**I based the character (physically) on Johnny Depp, who in real life is rumoured to be playing the Riddler for the next movie. I know it's just a rumour, but I hope that he plays the Riddler on the next film. If not him David Tennant.**

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**Chapter Three**

**Dr. Edward Nygma**

_Babs' POV_

If anything I was clearly not in the mood to see a psychiatrist today. Linda had been very gracious with me, she got me an appointment with a shrink that worked at the Gotham Medical Center next to my apartment complex. But I was still unsure about the whole thing. It just seems so strange to talk to a complete stranger about your problems, when you can't even tell those closest to you.

Linda was very secretive about the whole thing; she hadn't even divulged the name of the doctor treating me. I think she was afraid I was going to flake out and not go.

However she had spoken highly of the mysterious doctor. He was apparently one of the best therapists in Gotham. This was supposed to make me feel better about the appointment, but it didn't. It just made me feel more hesitant about the whole thing. This man was probably going to over analyze me or something. Make me feel more insecure than I already did.

It didn't help that I had to take the bus all the way there. That experience was embarrassing to say the least. First I had to wait until they set the ramp down, then I had to let the driver prop me up in one of the chairs like a rag doll.

Everyone stared at me; it wasn't just the fact that I was a paraplegic. All of the people there knew me, they knew how I got into that wheel chair; like everyone else in Gotham they had seen the now famous video.

I was mortified. I could feel their gazes on me. Their looks of pity and sympathy upon me and I hated them for it. Why can't they just stop looking? They make me feel like a circus freak or like a little broken porcelain doll. If the Joker could see me know, I know he would enjoy this. He would laugh and look down upon like me, like he had that fateful night.

Needless to say I was thankful when the bus dropped me of at my destination. As soon as I was down on the ground I wheeled myself away quickly. I wanted nothing more to be away from those people and their sympathetic looks.

I was two streets away from the medical center, so I tried to be very careful when I was crossing the streets. A man offered to help me, but I refused. It wasn't that I was offended by his request, but I needed to start getting the hang of this, and by this I mean the fact that I'm stuck to an infernal wheel chair.

I still believe that I will eventually be able to walk again, but that will obviously take some time.

I felt pride well up inside me when I arrived at the Medical Center. Part of me was proud that I had actually gotten there all by myself without anyone's help. Maybe I wasn't as helpless as I originally thought.

--

_Third person POV_

Barbara wheels herself cautiously towards the building being very careful not to slip on the wet gravel.

She approaches the receptionist's desk carefully as she enters the building; the wheels of her chair screeching slightly as she stops abruptly. The receptionist, who is currently chatting away on the phone with a friend, pays her no attention.

"Excuse me…Um…Excuse me." Barbara says trying to get the older woman's attention.

The blonde woman looks mildly annoyed by the intrusion. She rolls her eyes before looking down at Barbara. Her eyes widen dramatically as she recognizes the redhead.

The annoyed look in her eyes is quickly replaced with one of pity.

Barbara sighs quietly. Secretly she preferred the annoyed look.

"I'm Barbara Gordon…"

"Oh, I know who you are. Linda told me you were coming today. The doctor's office is on the eighth floor, its room 202…You know if you want I could send someone down to take you there."

Barbara smiles faintly at the receptionist shaking her head at the suggestion. Secretly she felt like throwing something at the blonde woman. The fact that she was in a wheel chair does not imply that she is completely incompetent.

In a way Barbara felt the older woman had just insulted her.

She willed the anger away and wheeled herself towards the elevator quickly. She could still the receptionist's gaze upon her as she entered the elevator.

The elevator was thankfully empty.

Barbara tries to compose herself as the elevator nears the eighth floor. The doors open swiftly, and Babs tries to wheel herself in the right direction.

Luckily, the room was close to the elevator.

Looking briefly at the plaque at the door she notices the doctor's name is written up there in gold bold letters;

**Dr. Edward Nygma, M.D.**

**Psychiatric therapist**

_Edward Nygma…E. Nygma…enigma. Wow. His parents must have really hated him. _She thought stifling her laughter.

Barbara wasn't just going to judge this man's skills as a shrink just because he happened to have a funny name. There was a reason why Linda had recommended this man. And Babs trusts Linda's judgment.

Breathing in deeply, Barbara leaned forward, her hand hovering above the door knob.

--

_Babs' POV_

Willing up all the courage inside of myself I open the door and wheel myself inside. I wince lightly as the door closes behind me.

The secretary barely even looked up as I entered the room. There a couple of people in the waiting room, and unlike the secretary as soon as I step inside of the room their eyes are practically glued to me.

I don't even look in their direction, trying to ignore them as I proceed towards the secretary's desk. The secretary is beautiful, with thick brown curls that frame her heart shape face. This woman was probably hired for her looks.

"Excuse me, my name is Barbara Gordon. I have a special appointment with Dr. Nygma."

The brunette doesn't even look up as I speak.

"You can go inside now. The doctor is waiting for you." Her voice is devoid of any emotion. She speaks almost robotically as if she had been programmed to speak those exact same words.

This woman was definitely hired for her looks.

As soon as I enter Dr. Nygma's office I grow considerably more nervous. The walls have a nice dark green shade; the furniture is all made of mahogany colored wood. There are also two large bookshelves that are filled with many scientific texts, the names of which I can barely pronounce.

The man who I assume is the famous doctor I'd heard so much about was sitting in a comfortable looking red chair. Beside him there is a large spacious black sofa.

I wheel myself closer to the doctor, stopping abruptly when I'm right beside him.

I'm suddenly struck by how handsome he is. His hair is dark brown with a few gray hairs here and there, but instead of making him look old, they make him look smart and distinguished. He has on these round spectacles which only enhance to his intellectual look.

Suddenly he trains his eyes on me. His eyes are dark and I find myself mesmerized by them. There is something in his stare, like he's trying to figure me out, and I realize that he's already begun to analyze me.

"You must be Barbara Gordon. Ms. Page informed me you were coming today. Is this you're first appointment with a psychiatric therapist?"

His voice is like silk, the perfect pitch and tone.

"No and yes…I work in the DA's office so we have a check up at least once a year."

"May I ask, who is the doctor that does this check ups?"

"Well I've only met him once, his name is Dr. Jones. He works for the CI department as a forensic psychiatrist."

Dr. Nygma only nods and scribbles something on his leather bound notebook.

"Are you sexually active?"

The question catches me off guard. What the hell does that have to do with anything?

"I'm in a wheel chair." I say pointing out the obvious fact that right now I am incapable of using my legs; therefore I'm obviously not having sex.

"Ms. Gordon contrary to popular belief people in wheel chairs have sex.." He says in an arrogant voice, and I blush at my complete naivety.

His gaze identifies when I fail to properly answer his question.

"No."

"How many months has it been since you've been sexually intimate with someone?"

"I don't see what this has to do with…"

"Please Ms. Gordon, do not think that I am harassing you in any way. These are routinely questions I have to ask all my first time patients, so please answer the question."

He says as he cuts me of mid sentence. I feel a mild form of anger welling up inside my chest, but never the less I nod obediently.

"It's been almost a year now."

He gives me a disbelieving look as if he thinks I'm lying. And I wish I was lying, but unfortunately it's the truth. Despite popular belief Bruce and I are just friends. Harvey was dating Rachel so that was out of the question, no matter how attracted to him I felt, and I'm not the kind of girl who sleeps with complete strangers.

The last person I had sex with was another student at Harvard. He was a sweet guy whom had a crush on me, I liked him too and he was very nice.

I'm a modern girl by all means, I don't really believe in saving myself for the "right guy". Having sex with more than one person in a lifetime is completely normal. People always end up divorce anyway, so waiting like an idiot for the quote on quote right guy just seems useless.

"I'm not lying, if that's what you think."

He chuckles as I defend myself.

"I don't think you're lying, it's just hard to believe. I mean you are very attractive."

I once again blush, except for Bruce; it had been a long time since someone had actually said I was attractive. After all men don't really go for women in wheel chairs.

He kept asking more questions, like where I lived, if I was allergic to anything, etc., etc.

All of the sudden as I was answering another of his questions a loud ticking noise interrupts me.

"I'm afraid that's all for today. You'll have to check with Mina for you're next appointment."

The time had gone so fast I had barely noticed an hour had gone by. Before leaving I meet Dr. Nygma's intense gaze again. His brown eyes meet my own green ones. He gave me a small smile, that was both friendly and sinister at the same time, and I marvel at how the man could be so comforting and so frighteningly intimidating at the same time.


	5. A Very Bad Night

**Author's note : Thanks for everyone who has been reviewing. I decided to update early, because last time I made you guys wait a really long time. In this chapter I included Bruce's POV, maybe in the next one I'll do Gordon.**

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**Chapter Four**

**A Very Bad Night**

_Babs' POV_

After my appointment with Dr. Nygma I headed straight for my parents' apartment. Today was our monthly family dinner. Everyone was going to be there, including Linda, Det. Yin, Det. Stephens, and Bruce as well.

My mother was quite fond of Bruce and I was glad that he was getting along with my family. I still hope that Bruce and I will eventually get together when I'm out of this wheel chair of course.

As soon as I arrived at my parent's home, dad had to come and get me. I could no longer enter through the fire escape. I have to take the long way now, which means in the front through the ramp and the elevator. I don't mind though I've gotten over it. Not the wheel chair per se, but the waiting. Through this past three months I've slowly developed more patience.

When dad laid eyes on me, he just smiled brightly at me. It looked like it was going to split his face in half, and I was suddenly reminded of the Joker. I tried to shake off the other man's image from my head. Part of me was deeply disturbed by the fact that my father had actually reminded me of the madman. After all they are nothing alike. My father is a good man, and the Joker is a sadistic clown.

"Hey, Junior." Dad greeted me happily as he leaned down and kissed my cheek. His stubble was scratchy against my soft skin, but I didn't mind. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, pressing the upper half of my body towards his.

"Hi, dad. It's good to see you."

Dad just smiled as he leaned back and studied me like he always did. He reminded me of Bruce in many ways, the both worried too much.

"Have you eaten anything?", he questioned suspiciously as his eyes took in my skinny figure.

"Yes, dad." I was eating as necessary, not because I wanted to, but because it was necessary. After all I was not one to wallow in self pity. I wasn't suicidal either.

The reason for my skinny frame was the wheel chair. Linda had told me that people in wheel chair barely get any exercise therefore their bodies grow weaker, and two things could happen. You could either grow morbidly obese or overly thin. My case was the latter, my legs were growing extremely thin, the only thing that I've managed to keep in shape where my arms, and it was mainly because I used them most of the time.

When we got to my parent's apartment. My mom opened the door for us. She smiled down at me and hugged me.

I returned her embrace with as much affection. My mom and I had never been incredibly close, but after the whole ordeal we had all gone through in the past six months, I can honestly say our relationship has grown and strengthened.

"Come inside. Dinner's ready."

"Is everyone here?" I asked not hiding my excitement as much I could.

"Yeah, everyone's here. Oh, Mr. Wayne brought some company."

Company?

"What company?" I ask my mother, my tone rising ever so slightly.

"It's Ms. Vale, from the Gotham Gazette. She said you two are friends." My father answered me instead. His eyebrow raised slightly in confusion as he noticed my distressed.

"And she came with Bruce?"

My dad just nodded, and I felt my heart sink into my stomach.

How could this happen?

I was suspecting Linda, when I should have been watching out for Vicki.

C'mon Babs, you're overreacting. Bruce doesn't belong to you; he doesn't belong to any except himself. He can go out with anyone he wants, even if it's Vicki Vale.

I inhaled deeply. It was true Bruce could date anyone he wanted, and clearly he didn't want me. I was so deluded to think that he could ever see me in that light.

Exhaling loudly I enter the dinning room where everyone is already sitting down.

--

_Bruce's POV_

Perhaps it was a mistake to bring Vicki. Even thought I have been dating the blonde for a week now, I had failed to tell Babs or anyone else for that matter, except for Alfred of course.

As soon as Barbara wheeled into the room, I could barely keep my eyes of her. Her eyes shifted towards me and then to Vicki, and the smile that had adorned her face was gone.

I watched her carefully as she situated herself next to Linda, whom helped her get out of the wheel chair and into one of the wooden dinning chairs.

"Hi, Babs." I greeted her, and I could hardly keep my mouth from contorting into a big grin. She just seemed to have this effect on me that other women had never been able to conjure up before. Even with Rachel I didn't feel the happiness that bubbled inside me when I was near Barbara.

She smiled faintly and greeted everyone leaving me and Vicki for last.

"Hi Bruce…Vicki."

"Hello Barbie, how are you?"

Barbara frowned at Vicki's question. Her eyes narrowing as Vicki clutched my hand.

Barbara was clearly jealous and I didn't know what to make of it. I had been flirting with her insatiably since my first meeting with her, but she would always draw back, and then when I saw her next to Dent in the roof. The way she stood next to him, the way she looked at him. I knew she was not only attracted to him, but that she loved him.

I didn't know if she still had those emotions for Dent, if she was still recovering from his death. If she wasn't ready for a relationship, why was she jealous? Unless she'd gotten over Dent already. Unless she actually felt something for me.

"I'm fine, Vicki. How are you?" Her tone was overly sweet and I knew she was faking the sentiment.

"Oh, I'm great." As Vicki said this, her hand tightened around mine. Our fingers intertwining.

I knew Vicki was over doing it, but I didn't have the strength to tell her to stop. Despite my feelings for Babs, I was deeply attracted to my blonde date. She's pretty and bubbly, and clever. She also has a fantastic body, and I may be the Caped Crusader, but I'm no celibate monk. I am a man, and I have needs like any other man.

I try to break the tension as I comment on how good Mrs. Gordon's cooking is, and it works. Everyone soon begins eating again. The talking remains to a minimal as everyone focuses their attentions on their respective plates.

--

_Babs' POV_

I was glad when the dinner ended. I said goodbye to my parents quickly and to everyone else and made an excuse about been having a stomachache.

Linda offered to drive me home, and I was very grateful for it.

That night when I laid in my bed and closed my eyes I could see Bruce and Vicki sitting together, their hands clasped together, and their fingers intertwined.

Trying desperately not to cry I tried to conjure the image away. But then when that particular image was gone, it was replaced by the image of the Joker standing over me.

Whether it was the Joker grinning down at me or Bruce and Vicki holding hands like love birds, either image fabricated nightmares

I definitely had a very bad night.

--

OMG! Bruce and Vicki...

And finally my chapters are getting longer. Yay!

God, I'm such a dork. Ignore my dorky ways.


	6. Clueless and Frightened

**AN: Yay! I went shopping today and got the new clear Converse. I'm so happy, I've wanted those shoes for a long time. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I know it's short, but it's leading up to a longer chapter. **

**In this chapter Gordon finds out what was troubling his daughter at the family dinner, and Barbara has a frightening session with Dr. Nygma.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Clueless and Frightened**

_Gordon's POV_

I arrived at MCU exhausted. The dinner yesterday hadn't gone exactly as planned. Barbara had seemed very upset through out the whole thing, which was quite strange considering the fact that she looked very happy when she got there. But after Barbara had gone through and all that she was still going through, I couldn't really blame her.

Out of all of us, she had been the one to suffer the most. One of her best friends had been killed by a homicidal murderer; the other had been driven insane by the same man. Not to mention that said man had also incapacitated her and left her confined to a wheel chair.

Part of me wants to believe that Babs will eventually walk again, but I can't help, but think about what the doctor said; that there was a small, however probable, possibility that my eldest daughter could be stuck to that chair for the rest of her life.

Once I sit down there is a knock at my door, and I sigh hoping that isn't already another case. But who am I kidding this is Gotham. There's always a new case.

"Come in."

Instead of Stephens, it's Yin. She's stands unsure by the doorway for a couple of seconds until I motion with my hand for her to come forward. She smiles at me in her usual joyful manner, and I marvel at how she can always be so jovial all the time.

"Hello Commissioner. I just wanted to say thanks, you know, for having me over for dinner."

"Well, it was no problem. You're almost a part of the family now, Ellen. So you need to start getting use to these family dinners."

Ellen blushes slightly, her cheeks going the brightest shades of pink I've ever seen. It doesn't make her look unflattering, it actually just adds to her charm.

"You know, Ellen, I want to ask you something; about yesterday."

Ellen looks confused, but nods anyways.

"Well, you noticed that Babs seemed upset. Do you have any idea why?"

Yin chuckles quietly at my clueless ness.

"I think Ms. Gordon was upset with Mr. Wayne."

I raise my left eyebrow in confusion. What did Wayne have to do with anything?

"Bruce Wayne…You think Barbara was angry at Wayne?" I ask my voice taking a disbelieving tone, after all Junior was very close with Bruce. The billionaire just happens to be one of her closest friend.

"Ms. Gordon was upset because Mr. Wayne came to the dinner with Vicki Vale." She responds in an evident tone.

"Why was she upset at Wayne for bringing Vicki?"

Ellen laughs lightly before answering my question. "Because she likes Mr. Wayne. It's really obvious. You can tell just by the way she looks at him."

I blush as Ellen says this, as if it is the most palpable thing in the world. It would seem I am completely dense when it comes to my daughter's romantic relationships.

I stopped trying to be involved in my daughter's romantic life after I heard rumors that she was having an affair with Dent. I knew that was all just gossip, and when rumors started circling about her and Bruce Wayne I ignored them as well. But maybe there is some truth to the rumors.

--

_Babs' POV_

"Look into the light."

Dr. Nygma told me after strapping a headband around my forehead. The headband had two strings on each side that were attached to a strange machine with a long stick with a light bulb at the top. The metal stick began moving side to side and my eyes followed its every move.

After a couple of seconds, I felt my body go slightly numb, my head cleared of all thoughts, and my eyes followed the light robotically. I don't know why, but I found myself mesmerized by that little light bulb.

"Alright, Barbara. Now you're going to go back to that day…The day of the attack."

My mind was suddenly rewinding as I traveled back in time. I found myself back in my apartment lying on my carpet, blood pooling around me, the terrible pain in my abdomen quite predominant.

"It hurts." I murmured softly.

"It's alright. That's normal."

Nygma's voice responded. I know it was suppose to make me feel better, but it didn't. Maybe it was then fact that I was now looking up at the Joker, who was leaning down next to me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" He said mockingly, as he smiled down at me.

Then I felt his hands on my chest, tearing my blouse…

"No, stop…Please, I can't." I cried as I pleaded to the doctor to stop the session. I couldn't take it, not again.

"Alright, Barbara. Just relax."

The doctor tried to calm me, as he shut the machine down. As soon as the light bulb was turned off I was out of my trance.

I tried to regulate my erratic breathing patterns, as I took the headband off and laid it on the table in front of me. I desperately hoped we didn't have to do this type of therapy again.

--


	7. Nothing is sweeter than Valium and Xanax

**--**

**Chapter Six**

**Nothing is sweeter than Valium and Xanax**

_Third person POV_

"Hm…" Dr. Nygma kept muttering this as he scribbled something quickly in his leather bound notebook.

Barbara didn't try to interpret what it meant; she was still trying to reel herself back from her hallucination. A hallucination that had been induced by the doctor's strange machine.

It was almost too much to take being in that vulnerable position and having the Joker stand over her. She didn't understand how she could get any better re-living that vicious attack over and over again. After all wasn't therapy suppose to be making her feel better?

When Dr. Nygma was done writing he turned his attention back to Barbara, who was now much calmer than before.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a compassionate voice and his eyes softened as he saw the state she was in.

Barbara nodded wordlessly; she was finding it very hard to speak.

"All right. Good." He said as she responded him non-verbally. His voice was once again adapting its usual detached tone.

"Do you have a lot of nightmares concerning the attack?"

"Yes."

He scribbled something down again, humming to himself in that insufferable manner that made Barbara feel left out. Why couldn't he just say what was wrong with her?

"Do you always suffer from anxiety attacks after these nightmares?"

Barbara didn't really know if she could call them anxiety attacks, but she supposed that was the only thing that could come close to describing it.

"Yes, I guess."

Dr. Nygma hummed again in a louder tone this time, as if he had figured something out. He tore a page from his notebook and handed it to Babs.

The paper read;

_Dr. Edward Nygma_

_Psychiatric therapist_

_Gotham Medical Center_

_Patient: Barbara Gordon, Jr. _

_10 mol __alprazolam_

_10 mol diazepam_

"What is this medication?"

"That's Xanax and Valium. There both suppose to help with anxiety disorders. The Xanax is short acting drug used to treat moderate to severe anxiety disorders and panic attacks. The Valium is meant to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures, states of agitation and vertigo, among other things. Take one of each every 24 hours. Trust me they'll make you feel better."

_One of each every 24 hours. _Babs repeated mentally as she tried to remember the doctor's instructions.

"Do you really think I need medication?"

"If you didn't you wouldn't be in my office right now." He retorted not looking up from the documents he was currently viewing.

Barbara sat there for a while. An awkward silence filled the room, and the only thing that could be heard was the doctor and Babs' slow breathing patterns, and the sound of paper rustling.

Thankfully a high pitch ringing interrupted the silence. Barbara didn't need to be told their time was over, she wheeled herself slowly towards the door, but not before looking back briefly at Nygma.

--

_Babs' POV _

The pills are small and round, some are blue and the others are white. I look at them briefly before popping two of each into my mouth and taking a mouthful of water before swallowing them down. I feel nothing, and I wonder if perhaps Dr. Nygma didn't prescribe the right medication.

I wheel myself out of the kitchen, but not before putting the pills away.

It takes twenty minutes for the medication to take effect. My eyes lids droop as I begin to feel drowsy. Giving in to the feelings of weariness, I let myself doze off.

_In my dream, I am lying again on my carpet, bleeding and helpless. The Joker is leaning over me; he is smiling that smile of his. His lips are redder than blood, his hair greener than grass, and his purple suit is incredibly filthy. _

_He smells of gunpowder, sweat and blood. _

_I close my eyes for a moment as I try to make the man go away, after all this is my dream. _

_When I open my eyes the Joker is gone in his place is the Batman. _

_The dark knight is leaning over me. His gloved hand comes down and strokes my cheek lightly. Despite the suit, it feels incredibly warm, and I welcome the feeling. _

"_It's alright. I'm here." His voice is devoid of coarseness, instead he sounds warm and caring, like the last time we spoke after he decided to take the fall for Harvey's crimes._

_There's an undeniable warmth underneath his eyes, and it almost makes me melt, because it makes me think that perhaps this man, who has saved my life twice, and whom I barely know actually cares for me, the same way I care for him._

_There was a familiarity in the man's eyes; like I knew him, like he knew me. _

--

_Third person POV_

"Barbara, wake up." Linda said as she began shaking Babs' shoulders softly.

Barbara's eyes began to open lightly.

"Linda…"

"Hey sleepy head. C'mon you have to wake up, you have physical therapy today, remember?"

Barbara tried to, but for the life of her she couldn't.

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

"It's alright, we've still got time to go." She said as she smiled down at her incapacitated friend.

"I'll go make you some coffee; here you can read today's paper while I'm at it." She said handing the redhead the newspaper she had been holding.

Barbara glanced at the newspaper briefly before opening it with disinterest.

Her eyes widen as she glanced at the gossip column which read;

**Billionaire breaks up with Journalist**

**By Jane Thomas**

_It seems that billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne has called it quits with Vicki Vale. You may know Vale as a journalist who works for the Gotham Gazette. The blonde and Wayne have been dating for over a week, things seemed to be going serious, considering Wayne never dates a woman for more than two days, but yesterday at the fireman's ball Wayne showed up alone…_

Babs stopped reading after that, a small smile grazed her face, and yet she felt some what sad, for Bruce that is. She didn't want him to be unhappy; she wanted him to find happiness, to be content, even if it wasn't with her.

The fireman's ball, but that's today. Barbara though as she reread the article.

Confused, she checked the newspaper cover;

Thursday, January 15, 2009

"Bringing you tomorrow's news."

**The Gotham Times**

_No, that can't be. Today is the 14th. _

"Linda, what day is it today?" Barbara asked after putting the newspaper atop of the coffee table.

"Today is January the 15th."

Then if today was the 15th, that meant she had slept for a whole day.

_It must have been the drugs the doc gave me. Maybe they had a stronger effect on me than they were supposed to have._ She thought as she tried to shake off the uneasy feeling creeping up her spine.

She smiled again as she though of Bruce. If the rumors were true then Bruce and Vicki were no longer dating, and maybe just maybe, they had a chance together now.

--


	8. The Riddle

**AN: Okay, guys I feel like I have to apologize because it's been a long time since I have updated. There are two reasons why I haven't updated my story. School has been really tough and since this is my junior year I am really trying to apply myself. Also I've actually been sick for a while and I had to be taken to a hospital were I was hospitalized. Don't worry guys I'm okay. I was suffering from appendicitis, and I had to go into surgery. The surgery was successful and I'm feeling great. I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long. I hope enjoy this chapter. There is a new male character which I based on Ryan Gosling, because he's a great actor and I'm a huge fan of his. **

**-----------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Seven**

**The Riddle**

It would surprise anyone to how many things could change in one month, except perhaps Babs. Barbara's life has changed so much in the past year, that nothing surprised her anymore.

She had been seeing Dr. Nygma for a month in half and his therapy techniques have helped her a lot, not to mention the medication. Barbara's no junkie or anything like that, but honestly she owes her sanity to those little white and blue pills. She couldn't even imagine going one day without them. No longer were her dreams plagued by the scarred man that had made her a paraplegic.

But then again the doctor had insisted that to be rid of all the fears that were controlling her mind she had to diminish all communication with her family. She had been constantly ignoring calls from her father, and even from Bruce.

On one of there many therapy sessions Babs brought the subject into the conversation.

"Dr. Nygma?"

Nygma looked at his patient curiously as he noticed the questioning tone in her voice.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering when I could see my family again."

Nygma sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose lightly before addressing her again.

"Barbara, we've talked about this, you can see you're family again when you're internal demons no longer plague you." He talked slowly and softly like he was speaking to a child.

Barbara didn't really know what the doctor had meant by that. After that discussion she never brought the topic back into the conversation.

Barbara honestly thought she had put all the drama behind her, but of course that wasn't the case.

One day everything changed…again.

That particular day was just like any other, Babs woke up and got dressed quickly.

She had learned to depend more on herself after seeing Dr. Nygma. She no longer needed Linda's help for day to day activities like getting dressed or even bathing. She had learned with patience to do them herself.

She made her daily morning coffee before wheeling herself to the living room, and turning on the TV. The morning news was on, nothing out of the ordinary, a little bit of rain, some heavy traffic, nothing out of the ordinary.

"_Breaking news…We have just received alarming news coming in from Derby Plaza. A body was discovered in the bottom of the fountain…"_

Babs felt her whole body go rigid. The coffee cup she was holding centimeters away from her lips.

"_The victim was twenty four year old police officer Nick Santos. He was found with fifteen stab wounds to the chest, and a crumpled letter in his pant pocket that was covered with a plastic wrap. The note is rumored to be written by the killer, it seems to be a riddle of some sort…"_

After the Joker there had been some copycats, which was to be expected. But this it seemed different. For whatever reason this seemed so similar and yet so different.

"…_What always goes up but never comes down?"_

_What always goes up but never comes down? _

The riddle of course was hard; it took Barbara a couple of minutes to figure the damn thing out.

_Age. It's someone's age. People get older, but they can't get younger. It always goes up, but it never comes down. _She thought triumphantly. Quite proud at the fact that she had managed to figure the riddle out all by herself.

She took out her cell phone quickly and called her father.

"_Hey Babs, I'm kind of busy right now…"_

Commissioner Gordon sounded rushed; he must have been to try to dismiss his daughter so easily.

Barbara interrupted him quickly before he could end the call and hang up on her.

"Dad, I know the answer to the riddle."

"_What are you talking about?"_ He tried to sound like he didn't know what Babs was talking about, but she knew better. Her father was never really good at lying.

"The riddle…The riddle the killer left at Derby Plaza. The answer is a person's age."

"_What?"_ He now sounded naturally confused like he couldn't understand what she was saying.

"The answer to the riddle the killer left. What always goes up but never comes down, the answer is age. People get older, but they never get younger." She explained the best way she could.

"_Alright…Look Babs, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later." _His voice held no emotion and he hung up before she had the chance to even say 'bye'.

Barbara understood her father's unusual coldness after all she had been ignoring him and the rest of her family for over a month, but she had been trying to follow Dr. Nygma's instructions, after all the doctor had helped her so much.

-------------

James Gordon was having a bad day. He was having a bad day because some attention seeking nut had just murdered a cop and dumped him in the fountain at Derby Plaza. The media had gone wild, and Derby Plaza had to be closed for inspection and to prevent civilians and reporters from contaminating the scene.

Even after all the precautions they had taken, some reporter had managed to sneak in anyway. Barbara's call had confirmed it.

The Commissioner shook his head as he felt an incoming migraine. He rested his elbows on the table and held his head in both his hands, closing his eyes as he tried to will the pain away.

_A riddle…Why would he leave a riddle? _He thought as his mind drifted back to the person that had murdered officer Santos.

He heard the door open lightly, knowing it was probably Det. Yin he didn't even bother opening his eyes.

"Yin, could you get me some aspirin and a bottle of water, I think I'm getting another headache."

He heard a manly chuckle that definitely didn't belong to Ellen.

Opening his eyes, he surveyed the intruder. He was a young man, late twenties maybe early thirties. His eyes were a brilliant shade of greenish blue, his hair was a sandy blonde color, and he had a nicely groomed beard.

"Who are you?" Jim asked trying to remain polite.

"I'm sorry. I've been transferred from PHD. The receptionist told me to come here."

The man's voice was gentle, too gentle; he sounded more like a diplomat than a cop.

"PHD?"

"Priority Homicide Division, sir."

"Oh, yes. I remember now." Jim replied quickly and a little embarrassed.

"What's you're name, detective?" The Commissioner asked curiously.

The blonde detective laughed quietly before smiling. His smile was charming and friendly; his eyes twinkled before answering the other man's question.

"Richard…Richard Grayson, sir."

----------


	9. Richard Grayson

**AN: This chapter is relatively short, but I just wanted to have one chapter to introduce Richard. His back story here is very similar to the comic book universe, but of course I had to fit it into the Nolanverse. **

**

* * *

****Chapter Eight**

**Richard Grayson**

**-**

"Richard…Richard Grayson, sir." The man introduced himself extending his hand towards Gordon.

Gordon smiled back and shook his hand.

"Jim Gordon."

Richard chuckled softly. "I know who you are, sir. Everyone in Gotham knows who you are."

Gordon just smiled at the flattering comment. No doubt that Grayson was trying to get on his good side.

"So Priority Homicide Division, interesting. I thought a transfer takes weeks, even months. Wasn't the department supposed to be informed about this?"

Richard walked towards the desk, Gordon waved his hand at the young man to sit, which he did.

"It was sudden, sir. They wanted me to come and um…help you with the Santos case. PHD is very sensitive about cases like this, sir. You know with Santos being a cop and everything."

Gordon sighed and nodded.

"I suppose you want to see the file?"

Grayson straightened a bit in his chair and gave the Commissioner a firm nod.

Jim handed Richard the crime file; Grayson studied the crime photos carefully.

"There wasn't much blood in the crime scene which tells us that the body was moved there after he was murdered. The knife wounds are precise and relatively small. The precision of the wounds tells us that the murderer knew what he was doing."

Gordon listened intently and realized why Priority Homicide Division had transferred Grayson to MCU; this guy definitely knew what he was talking about.

"What about the riddle the killer left?"

Richard fell back on his chair, his right hand cupping his chin as he started to think.

"This is just a thought, but it could be a signature sign. Many serial killers have a signature of some sort. Like for example, the Son of Sam who send letter to the NYPD, or the Zodiac who mailed ciphers to different newspapers, even the Joker had a signature, which was of course a Joker card."

"You think this guy is going to strike again?" Gordon asked the detective nervously.

Gordon honestly didn't think he could handle another high profile case, not after the long strenuous ordeal with the Joker.

"Honestly yes. This guy will most likely strike again."

------------------------------------------

Richard 'Dick' Grayson was born into being a cop.

Ever since Dick was a kid he was told by his father that he would be involved in the force. Grayson didn't have much say in the matter, his father was a cop, his grandfather was a cop, and even his older brother was a cop.

Dick hadn't always wanted to be a cop, he had been interested in a field in medicine, and he had almost pursued that career choice. Unfortunately for him, something would drastically change his life forever.

Richard was eighteen at the time, it was Thanksgiving night. Dick and his mom were waiting for his father and his brother to show up, but they never did. Later in the morning they got a call. Dick's father and brother had been killed while they were patrolling around the narrows. They were both shot in the back of the head, execution style.

Dick never had one doubt in his mind that Tony Zucco had been responsible for their deaths.

Anthony 'Tony' Zucco was a low level thug who happened to have a vendetta against his father. Dick's father, Joe Grayson, had been leading an investigation against Zucco for drug possession, extortion, bribery and assault charges. They had been zooming in on Zucco, and were very close to prosecuting him, but of course that all ended when Grayson and his son were murdered. The state tried to tie Zucco to the Grayson murders, but they didn't have enough evidence to prosecute him, and so the charges were dropped.

But there still isn't a doubt in Richard's mind as to who committed the crime. One day he was going to catch Zucco, he promised himself that.


	10. A Nice Memory

**AN: Again, sorry I took so long. My muse was on vacation, but thankfully she came back. I just bought the DVD and I was watching the special features, I loved the Gotham News Tonight episodes, it looked so real like a real news program it just made the Nolanverse even more believable. **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Nine**

**A Nice Memory**

**-**

Babs was having an internal battle with herself at the moment. She had this powerful urge to call her mother. It had been so long since they had talked, and she desperately wanted to hear her voice. She felt so alone, the doctor said that was normal, but for once Babs decided to ignore Dr. Nygma's rules, if just for one moment.

Picking her cell phone quickly, she called her mother.

After a couple of seconds her mother picked up the phone.

"Good morning, Gordon residence." Her mother's voice was bright and chipper, and Babs was briefly reminded that her mother, contrary to her, was a morning person.

"Mom…it's me."

An awkward silence settled in before her mother answered, and Babs was thankful that they weren't talking face to face.

"Babs…Why are you calling?" Her mother's tone changed, and she sounded upset.

"I just wanted to talk to you."

"Why?" Barbara Sr. sounded skeptical.

Babs sighed quietly; this was going to be harder than she thought.

"Because I wanted to hear you're voice. I miss you guys." Her voice started cracking lightly and she could feel the tears brimming in her eyes.

"Babs, how do you expect me to react you haven't spoken to us in awhile now."

"I expect you to be happy…I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you guys for some time now, I just need time by myself and Dr. Nygma recommended…"

Babs was interrupted by her mother before she could say anything else.

"Dr. Nygma, who the hell is that?" Her mother asked with suspicion hidden in her voice.

"He's my psychiatrist; I've been seeing him for a month now."

"A month?! You've been seeing a psychiatrist for a month? Why didn't you tell us?"

Barbara Senior's voice was clouded with worry after all she wasn't very trusting of therapists of any kind, and neither was her husband, not after Dr. Jonathan Crane had gone insane and poisoned half of the city with his fear toxin.

"Because I know how you and dad feel about psychiatrists…I needed time by myself."

"You could come back home, spend time with us, with your family."

That word home sounded so good to Barbara Jr.'s ears. She could remember the soft feeling of her old bed; she could remember the smell of her mother making her favorite chocolate chip pancakes, and the sound of her father's voice greeting her after coming home from work.

"I can't, mom. I need some more time alone. I don't want Jimmy and Sarah to see me like this."

"Barbara, you know you can come to us…when you're ready, right?"

Babs smiled before answering. "Yes. I love you mom."

"Love you, too. Goodbye."

"Bye."

The phone call ended with their parting words, and after it ended Babs felt a void. Hearing her mother's voice again, but not being able to see her was bittersweet.

Closing her eyes Barbara drifted to sleep.

_In her dream, which wasn't really a dream, but a memory, she was sixteen again._

_She was lying in her bed scribbling something in her special notebook which she used to write poems, and songs, and other silly things sixteen year olds write about._

_Just as she was finishing she could hear the sound of her mother vomiting quite loudly in the guest bathroom which was coincidently located next to her room. _

_Pushing herself upwards, she got up from the bed and left her room. Her mother was coming out of the bathroom, she looked pale and she was wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. _

"_Mom, are you alright?" She asked with a worried look on her face. _

_Her mother smiled weakly before replying. _

"_I'm alright, Junior. Don't worry."_

_Later that night after her father came home; she heard the loud whispers of parents as they spoke in their bedroom. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she happened to be passing by the hallway when she heard them speaking. _

"_Jim, it's been two weeks now."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_I'm late, Jim."_

_Barbara's eyes widened and she pressed her ear to the wooden door so she could hear the conversation clearly. _

_There was a small moment of silence before her father spoke again. _

"_You think you're…pregnant?"_

"_I know it's highly unlikely, but I'm late and…"_

_Her mother trailed off, and her voice crack slightly. _

"_It's alright, Barbara. I know we didn't plan this, but if you are pregnant then it will be great."_

"_I know, it's just having Babs was a miracle in it self, and then we tried for so long to have another kid, and nothing. And now we didn't even try, I was convinced I couldn't have any more children…It's just hard."_

"_I know sweetheart, I know."_

_Babs couldn't believe it, her mother could be pregnant. She could have a brother or a sister, part of her felt happy, and part of her felt sad. Sad because she was sixteen and wouldn't really be able to enjoy having a sibling, maybe if she was younger, but she wasn't. _

_And yet it was nice that her parents were going to have another child because she always knew her mother wanted more children, and so did her father. If it was a boy her father would be elated, he had always wanted a son._

_Over the course of two weeks her mother took two home pregnancy tests and went to visit a doctor who confirmed her thoughts. _

_After her parents came home from their doctor's appointment, her mother told her the news with a big smile on her face. _

"_That's great." She said before smiling at the two. _

_After dinner she went to her room, and cried softly as she looked at an old photo album which had numerous pictures of her when she was a baby up until she was about thirteen. There was one picture which happened to be her favorite. She was about twelve; she was wearing a bright white polo, blue jeans, and bright neon sneakers. Her hair was up in a ponytail and her bright smile was covered by her braces. She was standing with her father in his new office, he was holding his badge proudly with one hand and his other arm was around Babs shoulders pulling her closer to him. _

_A big fat tear slipped down her cheek and others soon followed. Then a loud knock on her door interrupted her thoughts. _

_She wiped her cheeks quickly with both her hands as she settled the album down on her lap. _

"_Come in."_

_Her father's figure appeared by the doorway. He entered the room hesitantly and closed the door behind him. Barbara gave him an encouraging smile and he sat next to her on the bed. _

"_What's wrong?" He asked as he noticed her puffy red eyes. _

"_There's nothing wrong."_

"_You're not happy about the baby?" He asked with a sad look on his eyes._

"_No, it's not that. It's just I can't help, but feel like I'm about to be replaced."_

"_What? That's ridiculous." Her father sounded like he couldn't possibly believe what she was saying. _

"_No it's not. Think about it; in a couple of years I'm going to leave to go to college and you're going to have another kid here, you won't remember me."_

_Barbara couldn't hold her emotion any longer as she cried freely. _

_Her father frowned as his daughter cried in front of him. Her sadness and distress was palpable. _

"_That's not true. You're my girl, remember. You'll always be our special girl. We could never replace you, we would never want to replace you. Don't you know that?" _

_She stopped crying and looked at her father. He was smiling reassuringly at her, and as she looked into his eyes, she could tell he was telling the truth. _

_She hugged him fiercely and he returned the embrace. _

_She rested her face in his chest and smelled the unique scent that could only belong to her father. He rested his chin atop of her head, and smiled as he held her in his arms. _

"_I love you, Babs."_

"_I love you too, dad."_

Barbara smiled at the memory as she awoke.

Her back and neck stiffened as she moved her head to the side.

The stiffness could be attributed to her sleeping position, seeing as she had fallen asleep on her wheelchair. She moved herself with a lot of patience to the couch. She accidentally hit the coffee table with her left foot.

"Ow." She muttered as she registered the pain in her foot.

_Wait a minute, I'm not suppose to feel pain. _

She rubbed her thighs and was surprised to find that she could feel that sensation as well.

She also found that she could move both her feet.

"Oh my God." She said as she swung both her feet. Tears of happiness brimmed in her eyes as emotion over took her. Even though she could only move her feet at this point she was happy because it meant that soon she could be able to move her legs entirely and would be able to walk again.

-----------------------

Meanwhile in the Gordon residence, Barbara Senior was pacing relentlessly around her kitchen as she though of the conversation she had with her daughter.

Barbara wasn't very approving of her daughter's choice to see a psychiatrist. She didn't trust any man who could possibly be brainwashing her daughter and giving her drugs to dope her up.

She picked her phone up determined, and called her husband. She had to tell him what she had just learned from her daughter; she had a very bad feeling about this Nygma man.

-


	11. Escape

**AN: I'm BACK!!! Anyway on with the story, I'm kind of grieving 'cause my dog died yesterday, and that dog has been with me for a really long time, I'm still sad, but he was really old so it doesn't really surprise me. It seems that the only way to get over my grief is writing so I popped this chapter out. It's kind of like therapy but better. Also I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has supported this story and reviewed it. **

**I just read your story SilkSpectreIII, and I must say I like it. I've always been a Selina/Bruce shipper. I was actually going to include her in this story, but since I've already included so many new characters, I decided against it. Plus she wouldn't of had really fit in the story. However I might include her in another sequel, but that would be after my Harley/Joker Arkham fic, which have delayed because of this fic, but after this one, I will most certainly post it. **

**P.S. There's a surprise in the end of this chappie. **

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* * *

**

-

**Chapter Ten**

**Escape**

----

In the course of two weeks the man, or at least it is presumed that he is a man, who had murdered officer Santos in Derby Plaza struck again twice killing two civilians; twenty three year old college student, Maria Swanson, and forty year old homemaker, Susan Simmons. Unlike officer Santos who had been repeatedly stabbed to death, the two women had been both killed in different ways. Maria was found in an alley nearby Derby Plaza, shot execution style with a gun shot to the head; Simmons had been found in her home poisoned with traces of potassium cyanide in her stomach. All of the victims were found with the murderer's calling card, a riddle. None of the victims had anything in common, and the police were convinced that another murdering psychopath like the Joker had emerged, with no real sole purpose except disturbing the peace and evoking chaos.

The Riddler, as the media had dubbed the serial killer, was an enigma in itself. The riddles made no sense and did not relate to each other, the selection of victims made no sense either, they had nothing in coming. They were all of different ages, different types, different races, and they all came from different social backgrounds.

Barbara had been trying to piece things together, doing research here and there. She was determined to somehow reveal the identity of the killer, not because she wanted to be a hero, but because she was determined to not let another madman like the Joker emerge and plunge Gotham into a black hole of chaos and anarchy.

In those two weeks Barbara had also been spending more time at St. Vincent's attending physical therapy sessions with Linda.

After one particular day after a grueling session of physical therapy she bid farewell to Linda before heading down to Dr. Nygma's office, she had almost forgotten they had an afternoon appointment that day.

To her surprise and bewilderment when she arrived the door to the office where closed. The blinds covered the glass door and a paper was glued to the door.

**The doctor will be gone for a couple of days. A family emergency has emerged. Will be back soon. Sorry for the inconvenience. **

_That's strange._ She thought shrugging, but didn't think about it further. Instead she went back to her apartment, were she had been gathering more evidence on the Riddler murders.

Holding a tape recorder in her hand she began to record her voice as she scribbled in a notebook with her other hand.

"Victim number one: Officer Nick Santos, found with fifteen stab wounds to the chest. Cause of death, lost of large amounts of blood. There was a riddle left with the body, which has now become the killer's calling card."

"Riddle number one: What always comes up, but never comes down? Answer to the riddle: Age."

She sighed briefly and stopped for a couple of minutes before continuing.

"Victim number two: college student Maria Swanson; cause of death gun shot to the head, death was immediate. Another riddle was left with the body; this one was a bit longer and harder to figure out."

"Riddle number two: They belong to me, they belong to you, they make you feel happy or make you feel blue. They never end until the day they do. Answer: Thoughts."

She stopped again, stopping the tape recorder and putting her pen down before taking a mouthful of water from a water bottle lying nearby in the coffee table.

Taking the pen in her hand again, she began to write quickly as she turned the tape recorder on again.

"Victim number three: homemaker Susan Simmons; found with traces of potassium cyanide in her stomach, the cause of death was obviously poisoning. And yet another riddle was left with the body. Note should be taken that with every victim, the riddles increasingly get harder to figure out."

"Riddle number three: You can hold it without using your hands or without using your arms. What is it? Answer is your breath."

"Note should also be taken that none of the riddles seem to connect, like the victims, they are random."

She stopped writing putting the pen down on the coffee table next to her notebook which she closed abruptly. She stopped the tape recorder, before playing it. She listened to the evidence again, and was thankful her father was lending her some of the evidence.

Just then her cell phone began to ring loudly, not even taking a look at the caller ID she answered the call.

"Barbara Gordon."

"Babs, it's me."

It was her father on the other end of the line, which didn't really surprise her.

"Hi, dad. What's up?"

"Have you taken a close look at the evidence I gave you?"

"Yep, still haven't cracked anything out though. Sorry."

"It's alright just take a close look at it, you might notice something in there that we haven't."

"Alright, don't worry, dad. I will. Love you."

"I love you, too. Take care."

"Goodbye."

"Bye."

----------------

The call ended quickly as there was still some tension in Babs' relationship with not only her father, but her mother. Her mother had spoken to her father about their conversation, and like Senior Babs, Jim Gordon did not approve at all of his daughter seeing a psychiatrist, which again didn't really surprise Babs at all. She knew her father would disapprove, but he was probably more upset at her because she hadn't told him herself, that and the fact that she had given him and the rest of her family the cold shoulder for a month. But Jim Gordon, Sr. was very forgiving, and he had a soft spot for his eldest daughter, after all she had been through she didn't need him cuddling her either.

Even though he didn't approve of her way of coping with her trauma, he supported her every step of the way.

The Riddler case had him and every other member of the Gotham police force shaking in their boots, after all the last thing they needed was another maniac like the Joker rampaging through the streets of Gotham, killing innocent civilians and loyal State employees like Santos.

Jim Gordon had met Nick Santos twice, the young man had a promising career, he could have gone on to be a detective, and even more. But his promising career in the force was cut short by the Riddler.

The Riddler though unlike the Joker, was much more private. Instead of showing Gotham his face, the Riddler opted to strike in the dark when no one could see him. But like the Joker, the Riddler had no real reason for killing innocents, at least no reason the police knew about.

Still deep in his thoughts, he was surprise to say the least when Stephens opened the door to his office hastily. For a second he thought the door was going to come off it's hinges.

"Stephens, what the hell…"

Before he could get another word out of his mouth, Stephens interrupted him.

"Sir, it's urgent. Something's happened in Arkham." The detective finished taking a deep breath.

Gordon felt the blood in his veins run cold.

"What happened?"

"The Joker, sir. The Joker has escaped."

----


	12. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**AN: This chapter is pretty short, but it explains a few things. Oh, and there's another surprise in this chapter. Read to find out. Plz r&r. **

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**Chapter Eleven**

**Something Wicked This Way Comes**

**-**

"What?! How?" He shouted loudly.

Stephens winced at his boss' reaction though it didn't really surprise him that much, after what the Joker had put Gordon through it was only to be expected.

"Actually Dr. Arkham is here, he wants to speak with you."

Gordon's eyes widened, Arkham was always very secretive and reclusive. The man only ever reared his head when there was a dire emergency.

"Let him in."

-

Stephens nodded before stepping out of the office. Less than a minute later, Jeremiah Arkham, who could be described as a fifty year old lanky man with salt and pepper hair and a dark suit stepped inside. He closed the door behind him and sat on the chair in front of Gordon's desk.

"What happened?"

The question made Arkham nervous, who shuffled in his chair in discomfort.

"Look, it wasn't my fault. I just want you to know…"

"Just tell me what happened." Jim cut him off before he could mutter another word.

"Alright…The Joker was left in the care of Dr. Quinzel, as you know. She is very young and impressionable. I wouldn't go as far as to call her gullible or naïve, but close. Anyway, she asked for the case, she told me she could handle it, but I should have known better. I should have seen through her enthusiasm. He got to her... She released him and..."

He trailed off looking down at the floor before taking a deep breath.

"What else did she do, Jeremiah?" Jim tried to encourage the distraught man to speak further. He knew there was something missing, something Arkham had yet to tell him.

"She released…She released Dent."

-

Gordon's heart almost stopped. If there was another person in the world who probably disliked him more than the Joker, it was definitely Harvey Dent. He doubted that the former District Attorney had forgotten about his vendetta against him. If anything he was probably planning his revenge right at that same moment.

Instantly Jim Gordon felt that his family was in imminent danger.

He already had his work cut out for him with the Riddler, and now he had The Joker, Two Face and a mentally unstable psychiatrist running around Gotham doing God knows what.

"Okay let me get this straight…The psychiatrist who was assigned to the Joker went crazy and decided to release him and Dent…Do you realize that I have to deal with this, and on top of that I still have a serial killer out there?!"

"I told you it isn't my fault." Dr. Arkham tried to defend himself, but it was useless.

"Yes, it is. You have known better than to let a young woman get involved with the Joker. Now, get the hell out of my office, and don't come back unless you've got some good news for me." James finished angrily. He could barely stand the sight of Jeremiah Arkham.

After all he had warned the man many times of the Joker, he had known that Harleen Quinzel wasn't equipped enough to handle the madman. The Joker had a way of getting to people, of making them believe what he wanted them to believe. He could be...dare he say it…charming when he wanted to.

The psychiatrist stood up and left the office defeated, as soon as he was gone Stephens stepped back in.

"Alright…I want my family on surveillance 24/7, until we find this maniac and put him back in his patted cell. Do you understand?"

Stephens nodded wordlessly.

"How many people know about this?"

"Just us and Arkham of course."

"Good, the less people know the better. The media must not find out, no matter what. Look, tell Yin to go monitor Babs' apartment building; you go to my house with Walker but don't let Barbara or the kids see you. I don't want them to find out unless it's necessary. Just stay hidden, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." That was all Stephens said before leaving.

James Gordon sighed loudly and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt an incoming headache.

--

"_How's the baby?"_

_Babs' worried face came into view. _

_The seventeen year old looked distressed, and Jim suddenly remembered that seventeen and a half years ago he had been in that same waiting room waiting for her to be born. _

"_He hasn't come yet. The doctor said it might take two hours until the baby comes."_

"_Two hours?! Wow." Babs stated; her mouth opened in shock. Clearly she didn't know a lot about child birth. _

_Jim chuckled. "You took longer, you know. I remember we were having dinner at home when you're mother started getting the pains. We came here quickly, but you didn't come until dawn."_

"_I took that long?" The young redhead asked her eyes wide. _

"_Yep, you took that long. When you came out, you were the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen…ever."_

_Babs smiled, her green eyes twinkling._

"_Really? You're not just lying?"_

"_Would I lie to you?"_

_---_

Gordon smiled at the memory as he opened his eyes.

He loved his daughter very much, more than she would probably ever realize and he was willing to do anything to keep her safe.

---


	13. Up to something

**Author's note: Okay, just to warn you guys there's a lot going on in this chapter, so I hope you guys can keep up. Oh, and we finally get to see Harley. I have a pic of her on my profile, I based her on Sienna Guillory, she's a great actress. She's been in a couple of movies, you might of seen her in Resident Evil Apocalypse, she played Jill Valentine; she was also in the movie Eragon, she played Arya. I like her because she's very talented, and I could totally see her playing Harley Quinn.**

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* * *

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--

**Chapter Twelve**

**Up to something**

--

James Gordon was wary.

Two days had passed and still no word or sighting from the Joker or Dent. He knew that they were up to something, they had to be. Gordon didn't think that the Joker was the hiding type. No, a normal quiet secluded life is not what the Joker wants, if anything the man is an attention seeking nut, who just wants to make everyone around him suffer. The clown enjoys inflicting pain on others, attacking innocent civilians, like Barbara.

Jim clenched his fists as he thought of the Joker's vicious attack on his daughter.

He shook his head as he tried to forget that awful memory.

"_Isn't she beautiful?"_

"Stop!" He said clutching his head with both his hands, trying to get the sound of the Joker's voice out of his mind.

"Commissioner?"

A worried voice interrupted his troubling thoughts. Opening his eyes, he looked towards the direction of the voice, it was Ellen. She had a worried look on her pretty face, and instantly Jim felt bad for making her worry.

"Commissioner, are you alright?" She asked entering the office, her steps slow and steady as she approached his desk.

"I'm fine." Gordon responded walking from behind his desk towards her.

"Good, you had me worried for a minute there Commissioner."

Jim chuckled silently. "How many times do I have to tell you, it's Jim or at least Gordon. You don't have to call me Commissioner all the time."

Ellen looked away from her boss.

"I don't think I'd feel comfortable calling you anything else."

Gordon's eyes narrowed and he frowned at the woman's obvious discomfort.

"Why is that?"

Before Ellen had a chance to reply, they both heard someone clearing their throat loudly.

--

Dick Grayson was standing by the doorway, his arms crossed and staring at the twosome with hidden curiosity.

"Commissioner…Detective Yin." He greeted them both as usual.

Ellen stepped away from her boss quickly, and left the room flustered.

"Is she alright?" asked Dick with a concerned tone as he looked towards the direction Yin had taken.

"I don't know…" Jim trailed off as he stared at the spot where Yin had been standing seconds ago, and tried to make sense of what had taken place between him and the rookie detective.

"Why are you here?" He asked Grayson as soon as he regained his train of thought.

Grayson closed the door behind him as he stepped inside the office.

"You're hiding something from me." He alleged staring right into Gordon's eyes.

"What are you talking about?" The other man responded rolling his eyes.

"I think you're not telling me something; something important. You know I don't like being left in the dark."

--

Gordon sighed, moving back to his desk before sitting down on his chair. He motioned for Detective Grayson to take a seat, which he did.

"I've kept you informed in every aspect of the Riddler case…"

"It's not about the Riddler; it's about something else." Dick said as he cut the older man off.

"PHD sent you here to help with the Riddler case. I've got other cases that don't concern you, detective."

Grayson narrowed his blue eyes, staring intently and defiantly at the other man.

"As far as I know, as long as I work in these offices I'm part of this unit, which means that the other cases concern me as well…Now, the Riddler hasn't killed any one lately and yet you've got officers patrolling the streets like it's the Apocalypse or something, and I know that it has nothing to with the Riddler or else I would already be informed... I respect you, Commissioner, but I don't appreciate you treating me like I'm not part of this team."

As Dick spoke Gordon noticed how much the kid reminded him of Harvey Dent. They were both idealists, hard workers and stubborn as hell. Or at least Dent had once been all of those things, but not anymore; well he was probably still stubborn, but that was it.

"You know, you're right Dick. You're absolutely right. You're a part of this team now; even if it's not for long, and you deserve to know the truth."

The Commissioner stood up walking towards the large window behind his desk. He stared at the people below, so unaware of the danger they were all in.

"The Joker escaped."

His tone held no emotion as he revealed the truth to the younger man. There was a small moment of silence before he heard Grayson sighing deeply.

When he turned back to the detective, the other man was looking at the floor deep in thought.

"How?" That was all Dick muttered as he looked back at Gordon, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

"The doctor that was assigned to his case released him."

----------------------

"C'mon Babs, you can do it."

Barbara looked at Linda's encouraging face. She clutched the large handles in front of her and began to stand up with the help of another nurse.

"There 'u go, Ms. Gordon." The nurse, who was helping her, Helga, spoke up; her Russian accent thickening the words.

"Thanks, Helga." She muttered as she struggled to stand up from her wheel chair.

_Come on Babs, you've been working on this for months now. You can do this._

With a look of determination in her face, she stood up clutching the metal bars until her knuckles began to turn white.

She began to walk forward when she stumbled. Thankfully Helga had been right behind her and caught her before she could fall.

"It's alright Babs. C'mon you can still make it." Linda told her persuading her to go further.

Barbara smiled as she regained balance. She inhaled deeply before she went forward.

_One more step, just one more step._

She exhaled loudly and one by one she moved each one of her legs until she had reached the end. Linda smiled brightly.

"You did it. Oh my God, you actually did it."

--

_I can walk again._

"Here." The other woman said as she held two forearm crutches in her hands.

"You're going to need these now, until you can walk without them."

"Thanks." Barbara said as she began to cry tears of absolute happiness as she realized that no longer would she be confined to that infernal wheel chair.

Linda gave her friend a hug, and smiled into her red hair.

"Thank you for everything." The attorney replied as she sobbed into the other woman's shoulder. After everything she had been through, she could barely contain her emotion any longer.

"That's what friends are for."

----------------

"Hey Stephens, have you seen Ellen?"

"Yeah, she said she felt kind of sick. I think she went home for the day."

Gordon frowned and wondered briefly if Yin had left because of him.

"Alright. Call her and check if she's okay."

Stephens nodded and walked off to do as he was told.

"Dad."

--

_Babs…_

He turned towards his daughter's voice and gasped loudly in shock.

Barbara was standing up, she was... walking.

Clutching her crutches tightly with every step she took.

"Hi dad…Surprise." She muttered her eyes twinkling with more unshed tears.

His mouth was still open in shock, he didn't move for a minute before he regained himself.

"You're walking…"

She stopped when she was right in front of him.

She frowned as her father began to cry, she hated seeing him cry. He embraced her with love and smiled against her hair. Kissing her forehead as he broke off the embrace.

--------------

_I'm going to kill him…I'm gonna make him suffer…_

The vengeful man's thoughts were interrupted by a gleeful giggle.

"What's wrong, little Harv? Are you mad?"

The lithe blonde made her way towards the former DA. Harvey growled as Quinzel sat next to him, her hand twirling with his hair as she played with it.

"Leave me alone, Quinzel!" He muttered between gritted teeth as he gripped her wrist tightly.

"Ow, you're hurting me Harvey." She complained, her face contorting into a grimace of pain.

Harvey let go of the young woman's wrist and she cradled it in her arms rubbing the bruised skin.

"Mr. J's gonna be very angry when he hears you hurt me." She said pouting her pretty full lips.

"Grow up Quinzel. The Joker doesn't give a damn about you; you're still alive because you amuse him."

"You're a liar!" She yelled loudly at the top of her lungs. Instead of retorting, Dent rolled his eyes and looked away in disgust.

"And don't call me Quinzel...It's Harley Quinn now. That's the name Mr. J gave me. I like it, don't you?" She continued, her voice changing from angry to painfully sweet.

"Whatever." That was all Two Face said as he turned away from the formerly sane psychiatrist.

The Joker had sure done a job on Quinzel, he had reached into her mind and pulled out all of the sanity she once had replacing it with unadulterated madness.

He had made a carbon copy of himself in her; he had created her in his image and semblance.

Two Face turned back to Quinzel; the woman was twirling a piece of hair around her finger while staring off into space and humming to herself.

Harvey gave the woman a look of pity; he remembered when he had first met her, she had been composed and professional, and a couple of months later with the Joker changed everything.

_He really messed you up, didn't he Quinzel?_

--

"Hello kiddies…I hope you didn't have too much fun without me."

The Joker's voice rang through the room like waves. Harvey snarled at the green haired man; Harleen giggled loudly, her eyes following her idol with every step he took.

"Mr. J, did you get me anything?" She asked with big doe eyes.

"Oh, yes. Here." He said handing her an expensive green coat.

"Wait a minute, I've seen that before."

Dent stated prying the coat off Harley's hands. The woman groaned and pouted like a small child.

"This was Rachel's." He said gripping the fabric tightly before looking at the Joker, an enraged look in his eyes.

"Well. Don't worry. I don't think she'll miss it." The Joker said his smile wide and mocking.

Harvey threw the coat back at Harley, who caressed the fabric lovingly before putting the garment on.

"How do I look, Mr. Jay?"

"Lovely."

She giggled yet again and her cheeks flushed from the compliment.

The Joker smiled at the woman before turning back to Harvey. He threw a plastic bag at the blond man, who caught it in mid air.

"What's this?"

"Look inside."

Harvey opened the bag only to see that it was filled with pictures of Gordon.

"Soon we're going to pay a visit to our old friends, but not yet. I wanna see what becomes of this Riddler, don't you?"

The Joker said as he began to laugh raucously, Harley joined him. Harvey merely stared at them, looking from one to the other.

--

_Great, I'm stuck with the crazies. _

_--_


	14. A Kiss and a Warning

**AN: Finally a new chapter! I know that's what you're all thinking, and I am very sorry for making you wait so long. But this chapter took a lot of hard work, and you'll see why. It's really long. It's the longest chapter I've written in a long time. **

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**---**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**A Kiss and a Warning**

**---**

"I still can't believe it either dad." Babs replied as she spoke to her father, who was still shocked to see his daughter standing, let alone walking.

"Oh, God…I never lost hope Babs. Never. I always knew you'd walk again. I just thought it would take longer." The Commissioner acknowledged as he stared at his daughter with love and disbelief.

They hugged again before separating for good.

----

Detective Grayson ran through the offices of the MCU, trying his best to find the Commissioner.

"Hey Walker have you see Gordon?" He asked the other detective, who just shrugged before shaking his head.

Grayson frowned and kept on going. After awhile he finally spotted the Commissioner standing next to a young woman.

Dick inhaled deeply as he was struck by the woman's beauty. Her hair was red and glistening. Her eyes, a beautiful emerald green; she was tall, standing only two inches below Gordon.

The detective approached the couple slowly trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Commissioner." He interrupted quietly.

Barbara and Jim turned to Grayson. Barbara and Dick's eyes locked and for a minute the world seemed to stop as the detective fell into a kind of trance.

"Grayson…Grayson?"

Gordon's voice broke through Dick's reverie.

"Oh, um…I have to speak with you in private…umm…about the Riddler case."

"Alright…Grayson this is my daughter, Barbara Junior; and Babs this is Dick Grayson from the Priority Homicide Division."

"I'm sorry that I can't shake your hand." Barbara apologized pointing down to the two crutches that were currently keeping her in a vertical position.

"That's alright." He said smiling at the redhead.

"I'm sorry, Babs. I'll talk to you later." Jim said hugging his daughter before kissing her goodbye.

"It's okay, dad. I'll just go visit mom and the kids." She told him before taking one last look at Dick.

"It was nice to me you." She smiled at him and walked away.

Dick stared at her until she was out of sight completely. He was enthralled by that woman; there was something about her that spoke to him in volumes. He had never been so attracted to a member of the opposite sex before. On one hand, she was beautiful and she looked available. Any man would kill to have a woman like that in their lives. But then again she was his boss' daughter and asking her out would probably be very inappropriate.

"Grayson, what's this about the Riddler?" Gordon asked growing impatient.

Dick shook his head as he tried to get the beautiful redhead out of his thoughts before turning back to Jim.

"The Riddler struck again. Here." He said handing over the recently developed crime photos to the older man.

Gordon grimaced as he looked at the pictures. "He really did a number on this one"

The victim was a man, maybe in his mid 30s', he had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest and stomach, and his head looked like it had been caved in by a very large object.

"Yeah. Eight stab wounds and he was hit in the head with a large object, with think maybe a fire extinguisher."

"That's an odd choice of weapon, don't you think?"

Grayson chuckled dryly. "Well, this guy doesn't seem like the average type of killer…There was another riddle with the body."

"What did it say?"

"It flattens things, and without it, it flattens you. It's in food, it's in buildings, it's in bridges, too. Is this too hard or too soft for you?" The blonde man quoted the riddle word by word.

Gordon frowned. "What the hell does that mean?"

"The answer is actually quite simple, it's iron." Grayson answered.

"Age, thoughts, breath, and iron…What the hell do they have in common?" Gordon pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt another incoming migraine; he had been getting a lot of those lately, and no wonder with everything that had been going on lately.

"Another headache, Commissioner?" he asked chuckling.

"Oh, shut up. This it too much. The Riddler…the Joker…" The older man said sighing.

Grayson stopped chuckling and stared at the Commissioner with a look of pity and compassion. The other man had a lot on his plate, and he didn't need him on his back to make things worse.

"What about the Batman?" He asked quietly and Gordon almost didn't hear him.

The Commissioner turned to the detective, his stare hard and scrutinizing.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you think it's about time we give him a call or something. You and I both know that we can't catch these two sociopaths by ourselves, we're going to need help."

"Batman is an outlaw vigilante, who murdered six people. I don't think asking him for help would be the correct or ethical thing to do." The words lacked truth and Jim delivered them like a well practiced speech, his voice void of any emotion or feeling whatsoever.

"C'mon Gordon, I'm not an idiot. We both know the Batman didn't kill those people."

Gordon stared at the younger man with curiosity and alarm.

"You don't believe the Batman did any of that?"

Grayson chuckled. "No, of course not. Do you?"

Jim smiled. "You know kid; I think we've actually found something we have in common."

--------------

"_Mr. Wayne, Dr. Nashton will see you now." The pretty receptionist spoke, her voice bright and polite. She fluttered her eyelashes in a cute way and winked suggestively. _

_Bruce smiled at the young flirtatious woman before entering the other room. _

"_Mr. Wayne, it's nice to finally meet you." The scientist said as he extended his hand to the billionaire. _

_Bruce took a good look at the other man. Dr. Nashton was relatively young, around his late thirties; his hair was dark brown with a bit of grey peeking from the corners, his dark brown eyes hidden by round spectacles. _

"_Nice to meet you as well, doctor." Bruce replied shaking the other man's hand firmly. _

"_No reason to sound rude, but is there a reason for your visit?"_

_Bruce shrugged as he looked around the room. There were different mechanical contraptions on the table in front of them and the walls were covered with different drawings of different types of interesting mechanical designs. . _

"_Dr. Nashton previously you were under employment of Mr. Earle. Now that Mr. Earle is no longer with the company, as your new employer I want to see what I am investing my money in. You understand, don't you?" _

_Bruce turned back to the other man. Nashton's face was unreadable, but he nodded none the less in approval. _

"_Alright then…What's this project Earle had you working on?"_

"_Well, Mr. Earle wanted me to help him in designing a machine that could be used in interrogations..." _

"_Interrogations?" Bruce asked raising his left eyebrow in confusion._

"_Yes, prisoner interrogations. Mr. Earle wanted to sell it to the military to be used during the war."_

"_What's the device suppose to do?"_

"_It's suppose to read a person's mind. Tell us exactly what the person is thinking, what the person may be hiding. It's suppose to be better than a polygraph." Nashton answered with pride. _

_Bruce looked around the room again before speaking once again. _

"_Where is the machine?"_

_Nashton didn't answer, but instead he moved to the table and grabbed a round metal-like helmet. He handed the helmet to Bruce who inspected it carefully and gave it back to the scientist. _

"_It's made of aluminum alloy which makes it light, but still strong and durable."_

"_I assume that it's functioning properly." _

_Nashton began to look nervous and Bruce could see the alarm in the other man's eyes. _

"_Is it working?" He asked after noticing the other man's hesitation._

"_Yes…but there have been side effects." _

"_Side effects?" _

"_Well yes, our human subject…"_

_Bruce's eyes widened. "Human…You used human subjects?"_

"_Well yes…Only one actually. We had already tested with orangutans and gorillas, but we needed a human subject to see if it really worked…It was voluntary, the man was not obligated to do anything he didn't want to." _

"_And what happen to this human subject?"_

_Nashton hesitated again, he gulped before continuing. _

"_He experienced some delirium after the first trial. After the second trial he was having delusions, and after the third trial he…He committed suicide." _

_Bruce turned away from the other man, as he surveyed the room once more and tried to think clearly. Deep in his mind an alarm rang off and he got a very bad feeling about this Nashton guy and his "machine"._

"_You said you tested on animals?"_

"_Yes."_

"_I want to see them." Bruce replied, a determined look in his eyes. _

"_I wouldn't recommend…"_

"_It's not up to you Nashton. I will see those test subjects whether you recommend it or not." _

_Nashton nodded as he was taken back by the billionaire's forceful tone. _

_The cages were the animals where being held in were impeccably clean. There were no bars instead the only thing that separated Bruce and Nashton from the primates was hard reinforce glass with large holes in the top and bottom for air. _

_The orangutans were extremely scared; they hid behind the trees and bushes, away from prying human eyes. The gorillas were quite the opposite; any small sound would send them into a frenzy. They were overly aggressive and erratic. _

"_With the animals we only got images, with the human subject we got actual thoughts, words, but sometimes we would get images as well…The orangutans seem to suffer from paranoia and stress while the gorillas seem to be experiencing rage and anxiety." _

"_I've seen enough." Bruce responded not bothering to look at the other man as he exited the laboratory abruptly. _

_---_

_Once Bruce was back at Wayne Enterprise, he spoke directly to Fox about Nashton. _

"_I think the man is a crackpot."_

"_So does everyone else, but Earle insisted that the project was working well."_

"_Well Earle lied. I saw the animals he used for testing…Nothing good can come out of this machine. Did you know that the human test subject that was used to test Nashton's machine killed himself after the third trial…Why wasn't this guy prosecuted?"_

"_The man's family tried to sue, but the man had volunteered and signed a contract. There was nothing they could do." Fox replied his face somber as he spoke. _

_Bruce frowned. "I'm going to have to fire him." _

_Lucius' eyes widened, but he nodded realizing it was the right thing to do. _

_----_

"_Mr. Fox is good to see you. What do I owe this tremendous visit?"_

_Lucius chuckled as the scientist flattered him. _

"_Unfortunately, Edward I'm afraid I don't come baring good news." _

_Just as Fox spoke four men came in the room. They rampaged through the room large bags in their hands as they began to tear the designs from the walls and grab the mechanisms from the table._

"_What's going on? What are these men doing?" The scientist asked with a nervous look on his face. _

_Lucius gave the man a pitiful look before addressing him again. _

"_I'm sorry, Edward. Mr. Wayne wasn't impressed with your machine. He seems to think that you're…experiments would jeopardize the company's reputation, and I agree with him. I think it is best if you leave."_

_Edward Nashton looked as if he had just been insulted. His eyes were wide with fury, disappointment…shame. _

_He inhaled deeply as he tried to compose himself. _

"_But these designs, my machine…They are all mine; you can't just confiscate them."_

"_You're designs and you're machine belong to Wayne Enterprises. And Mr. Wayne as head of the company has decided to have your designs confiscated, and your machine destroyed." _

"_He can't do that!" Edward yelled angrily. _

_The other man's obvious fury had not effect on Fox whatsoever. Lucius merely signaled at one of the men standing by the door. _

_The man approached his employer. _

"_Is there a problem here, sir?" The burly man dressed in black said cracking his knuckles as he clenched his fists. His question was directed at Lucius, but his gaze remained solely on Nashton._

_Edward backed down and stepped away from Fox. _

"_Is there a problem, Dr. Nashton?" Lucius asked Edward peacefully, but with a warning hidden beneath it. _

_Looking from Fox to the man's bodyguard. _

"_No, there's no problem." Edward replied walking toward the table to pick up his suitcase before leaving the laboratory. _

-----

Barbara had tried communicating with Dr. Nygma, but to no avail. His office remained mysteriously closed for another week. It was so unlike Nygma to leave unannounced and abandoned his patients. Something was definitely wrong, and Babs' intuition had never failed her before.

"Babs, come on dinner's ready."

Her mother's soft-spoken voice awoke Babs' from her daze. She smiled and stood up from the couch with her crutches as she made her way into the dining room. She had spending a couple of days at her parents'. It had not been her decision; her father was very worried for her and asked her to spend some time with them. He had looked so nervous and worried that Babs had decided to comply with his wishes. She wasn't going to lie; she was actually enjoying spending so much time with her family. She kind of felt like a kid again every time he was with them.

Her family had gathered around the dining table, taking their usual seats. Just as Babs was about to sit down, the doorbell rang. Everyone looked around wondering who it was before her father stood up.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. I invited somebody over." Gordon said as he stood up.

"That's strange, so did I." Barbara Kean alleged as she gave her daughter a knowing look.

Jim gave his wife a curious look before moving out of the room to receive one of the two mysterious guests that were going to have the pleasurable experience of having dinner with the Gordons.

When Jim came back he did not come back alone. Det. Grayson stood next to him fidgeting slightly as the Gordons stared at him curiously.

"Honey, this it Det. Dick Grayson from PHD, he's helping MCU with the Riddler case…Dick this is my wife, Barbara Kean."

His wife smiled at the young man and shook his hand enthusiastically; Gordon then introduced Grayson to his youngest children who merely gave the detective toothy grins.

"And you already know Babs."

Dick turned his gaze to Barbara, Jr. and he smiled at the redhead. He felt his heart flutter as she turned to look at him. She gave him a quick smile before looking down at her plate.

"You can sit next to me." A small voice spoke next to Dick.

He looked down only to see it was little Sarah Gordon smiling up at him.

He smiled back. "I would love to."

He sat down next to the enthusiastic young child. His stare though was fixed on Babs as he watched her eat her food with slow bites.

Then the doorbell rang again.

"That's my guest." Barbara, Sr. said grinning at her eldest daughter.

As she exited the room to answer the door, Jim gave his daughter a questioning look, but Babs just shrugged. She had no idea what her mother had planned.

When Barbara Kean came back she was definitely not alone.

Babs stood up abruptly almost forgetting her crutches in her haste. She walked as fast as she could to the visitor almost knocking him back as she dropped one of her crutches to give him a one-arm hug.

"Oh my God, Bruce! I haven't seen you in so long. What are you doing here?" She spoke a mile a minute barely able to contain her excitement.

Bruce returned her embrace burying his face into her hair as he smelled her delicious sent before taking a good look at her. She had gotten her hair cut again; it was now the length it had been when they had first met.

"Hey Babs…It's good to see you." He said meeting her eyes.

She flushed as his brown eyes connected with her green ones.

"It's good to see you too…Anyway you didn't answer my question. Why are you here?"

He didn't have a chance to answer as Barbara Kean spoke for him.

"I invited him." She said giving her daughter another meaningful look.

Babs would probably be angry at her mother for trying to play matchmaker, but this time she was actually grateful because it was Bruce. She was so thankful to see the billionaire, they kind of lost contact for sometime, so it was nice to finally see him after so long.

"You're walking again." He responded amazed as he stared at her in amazement.

"Yeah…Not like before with the crutches and all, but it's nice to finally be on my feet again. It took some hard work, but it was worth it."

"I'm glad."

He then greeted the other members of the Gordon family before moving to Det. Grayson.

"Oh, Bruce this it Detective Grayson, he's helping my father with the Riddler case."

The two men studied each other briefly before finally shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you." Bruce said his tone completely honest.

"Same here." Unlike him, Grayson wasn't being entirely honest as he regarded the man with a guarded tone.

"C'mon Bruce you can sit next to me."

Barbara was very close to killing herself, she was acting like a hormonal teenager, but she really couldn't help it when she was around Bruce. He just made her heart beat quicker, and the butterflies in her stomach awaken with a ferocity that scared her.

Bruce bend down to pick Barbara's fallen crutch, he grinned as he handed it to her and then he followed her to the other side of the table where they both sat together.

Dick stared at the couple, his heart deflating as he saw the way Barbara looked at Bruce. She gave the man a look of pure adoration and admiration, Dick was too proud to admit it but he felt jealous of Wayne. Even though he shouldn't really be jealous after all he had just met Ms. Gordon. She was nothing of his and he was nothing of hers.

Dick sighed quietly and looked down at his plate as he began to take small bites of the meal before. He hardly had any appetite after the display of emotion he had seen from Barbara towards Wayne.

Bruce made small talk with Jim for awhile before complementing Barbara, Sr. for the lovely meal she had prepared. Bruce really appreciated the meal, Alfred was a good cook, but he never really made anything remotely homely. All of Alfred's gourmet meals consisted of the finest filet mignon, sirloin steaks, lobster bisque and bouillabaisse.

Barbara Kean's cooking was more like what real Americans eat during dinner time; home made mashed potatoes with gravy, meatloaf and a cranberry yam casserole.

The food was good, but Bruce preferred the company; just being around Barbara made him feel better. Her presence was soothing to him, she made him feel…warm.

He definitely had to thank Babs' mother for inviting him after the dinner was over. At first he had been unsure of attending the family dinner, after all the last time hadn't really gone very well when he had brought Vicki as his date. It had been a stupid move on his part. Babs had been livid, and the tension between her and the blonde had been palpable.

When dinner ended, he did thank Barbara Kean for inviting him before saying goodbye to Babs and her family; though Barbara Kean tried to convince him to stay for dessert.

"It's alright, Mrs. Gordon. Alfred made tiramisu. I really should be heading back to my penthouse. It's getting late and tomorrow I have an important meeting with a couple of board members. It was a lovely dinner."

He kissed Babs and Barbara Kean's cheek, and bid the family one last farewell before finally leaving.

When he was gone Barbara Kean left the room to bring out the dessert. Barbara, Sr. made her famous home made cottage cheesecake, and it happened to be Babs' favorite dessert in the whole world.

As they ate their dessert, Jim asked Dick to stay to watch a local college football game.

"I don't know, Commissioner. I think it's getting kind of late and tomorrow…"

"None sense…It's only seven o'clock." Mrs. Gordon said her face full of eagerness after all it wasn't every day that she had visitors.

Mr. Gordon nodded agreeing with his wife. He was also eager to get to know his new unofficial partner. After all he didn't know much about Det. Grayson, the boy was some what of a mystery. He had heard rumors about the boy around MCU, but it would be nice to talk to the detective and get to know him himself.

"It would be nice if you stayed."

Dick looked at Babs who had just spoken. Their eyes met and again he was caught in her green eyed stare.

"Alright." He finally answered looking away from the woman whom he was deeply infatuated with.

Barbara Kean and Junior both smiled.

The family then moved to the living room, all except Jimmy and Sarah who had a curfew and were immediately send to their room after they finished their dinner, and Mrs. Gordon who stayed and cleaned out the table.

About half 'n hour later Grayson excused himself and went to the fire escape for a smoke. Once there he lit a cigarette.

"You know those aren't very good for you."

Dick turned to the voice though he knew who it belonged to already. His heart began to beat faster as he saw Barbara standing behind him leaning on the doorframe.

"Yeah, I'm trying to quit, but it's not really working out."

"Did you try the nicorette patches, I heard they are good."

Dick shook his head. "No I tried the gum though. It didn't do anything."

"Then try the patches." She said as she walked towards the rail. She wobbled a bit and leaned on it. It was then that Dick noticed she was only holding one crutch with her left hand.

They were face to face now and Dick had to look away for a minute. He found it hard to stare directly at her for prolonged periods of time. She was gorgeous and he was mesmerized by her beauty.

"I'll do that."

"Gimme one." Barbara said as she motioned towards his cigarette.

"You smoke?" He asked handing her one.

Barbara smirked and shook her head. He shrugged and lit her cigarette.

She inhaled deeply and began coughing profusely. Dick began chuckling loudly, but stopped when Babs glared menacingly at him.

"Sorry…Just inhaled softly, take it slow…Don't rush into it. Keep it there for awhile and then exhale." He instructed her as he inhaled the smoke softly and the exhaled it through his nostrils.

Barbara did the same, and instead of coughing as she had earlier she managed to hold the smoke in her lungs before finally letting it out.

"You know these aren't so bad." She said referring to the cigarette as she inhaled again.

"Yeah, but their addictive. So you just be careful…So um…How's it feel to be the Commissioner's daughter?" He asked lamely as he tried to make conversation.

Barbara winced at the question as she remembered that horrible night she had been shot by the Joker.

"It's not that great…Not as great as you think."

After noticing her discomfort Grayson decided to change the subject.

"So you haven't been in Gotham for very long, have you?"

"A year actually. What about you; you from these parts?"

"Yeah. All my life. I was born in the Narrows unfortunately, but when my dad began to get promoted in the force we moved to Gresham. Nice neighborhood outside of the city…good people."

He stopped for a minute as he moved next to Barbara and leaned against the railing as he began to look at the alley below.

"What about you? What made you wanna leave Gotham?"

Barbara sighed.

"To be truthful because I hated it. The crime, the mob, and the corruptness of it all…I got tired of it. I wanted to live somewhere normal…I promised to never set foot in Gotham again, and I didn't for a long time."

Dick stared at Barbara. "Then why did you come back?"

She turned to look at him. "My dad."

Dick smiled at her. "Good answer."

She smiled back, and they stared at each other for a couple of seconds. Something in his mind told him to kiss her. He didn't know what it was, perhaps it was the way her hair swished around as the wind passed through it, the way her milky skin shone beneath the moonlight, or the way her emerald green eyes' glittered.

_Kiss her. _His mind told him again, so he did.

It was a very stupid and brash idea, and he was probably going to get slapped afterward, but he didn't care not at the moment their lips met. Her lips were gentle, and she gasped into the kiss as she was taken completely by surprise. Babs didn't protest though, the way Det. Grayson's lips felt against hers made her feel dizzy, but in a good way.

Their lips connected and melted into each other. Dick cradle the redhead's face as he kissed her with an intensity even he didn't know he had.

Babs caressed the lapels of his jacket as her hand made her way up from his chest, to his neck, to his face. Grasping his neck she pulled him down into her. She leaned into the railing so she wouldn't fall, but she didn't need to worry about falling. Dick's hands made their way down to her shoulders as he grasped them tightly; leveling her while managing to pull her towards him.

His tongue touched her lower lip; Barbara gasped, but opened her mouth. Their tongues met and Babs thought she saw stars inside her eyelids.

Grayson was a wonderful kisser; he had an intensity and passion that Barbara had never felt before from any other man. The last kiss she had, had been with Harvey after his disfigurement and it hadn't been particularly enjoyable.

But this kiss, this was more than enjoyable. It was wonderful, fantastic, amazing… It was the best kiss that had ever been bestowed upon her and this from a man she had just recently met.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the kiss ended. Barbara was left panting and yearning for more.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't of had done that…It was just impulse and I'm really sorry." Dick apologized copiously as he waited for the slap that he was sure to receive.

"No, don't apologize…That was…" She stopped as she tried to regain her breath.

Just as she was about to speak again the door to the fire escape opened without a warning. Thankfully it wasn't Barbara's mother; Babs was sure that if her mother saw her in this state she would surely know her daughter had just been kissed. Babs was pleased to see that the intruder was her father. She loved her dad, but he really was clueless to these types of things.

"What are you two doing out here?" He asked curiously as he looked at the twosome suspiciously.

"Just out for a smoke, sir." Grayson said not missing a beat.

"But don't worry we were just going back inside, dad." Babs said looking at the space next to her father. She didn't think she could actually look him in the eyes and lie to him.

"Alright." He said holding the door for the both of them.

They went back to the living room; Babs sat next to her father on the couch, and Grayson sat on the chair next to the couch. They both tried not to look at each other, but every so often they would exchange glances and grins. This went unnoticed by Jim, who was very invested in the game.

Then the TV screen suddenly went black.

"Oh damn. There must be something wrong with the satellite dish." Jim groaned as he began to get up from his seat.

"Hello citizens of Gotham." The voice came from the TV screen as a mysterious figure spoke.

The man who was speaking was oddly dressed. He was sitting in a large burgundy chair in a white non-descript room and he was wearing a two piece suit dark green suit, underneath his jacket he had on a dark purple shirt and over that a lime green tie with a question mark. His hands were covered by dark green velvet gloves; he was also wearing a matching bowler hat and small round dark sunglasses that covered his eyes.

"My name is not important…Some of you may know me by the nice little moniker that the media has given me; The Riddler."

Gordon sat back down as he intently stared at the man in front of him, Babs and Grayson did the same.

"I know many of you are wondering why I'm doing horrible things like killing people…Well the answer to that is quite simple, you see I use to be a very successful man until another man ruined my life. The only thing I am after is retaliation. All the people I have killed deserved it. They have wronged me and I retaliated. There are two people left on my list. The two people that ruined my life. The two people who ended my promising career and made me a laughing stock. So much so I had to even change my name and profession. You may ask who these two people are…Well they are none other than Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne."

Barbara gasped as she heard Bruce's name come out of the serial killer's mouth.

"No." She said as she gasped.

Grayson gave her a look of compassion, he wasn't exactly fond of Wayne, seeing as he had just met the guy and Babs seemed to be infatuated with the man. But that didn't mean he wanted the guy to die at the hands of this psycho.

"I assure you I will kill these two men, and anyone who stands in my way will die. Once these men are dead, then maybe I'll stop…Maybe." The man smiled before grabbing his gold question mark cane.

"I will warn Commissioner Gordon that if he tries to intervene with my plans. He will suffer the consequences."

Then the screen went black again.

Something about the Riddler seemed very familiar to Barbara. Apart from his pale skin and clean shaven face everything else seemed familiar to her. Something about his voice…

"_You must be Barbara Gordon…"_

"Dr. Nygma!"

-------

Meanwhile somewhere in the Narrows; the Joker, Harley Quinn and Two Face gathered around a TV screen.

"This is going to be fun." The Joker said taking one last look at the black TV screen before looking at Harley Quinn, who smiled wickedly at the scarred man.

----


	15. Headfirst

**AN: I'm so sorry I made you guys wait so long, but I was on vacation with my family in Utah. We went up to Snowbird which is a big ski lodge in Utah. I did some skiing, it was a lot of fun. Then we went down to Texas, and I got to spend some time with my dad who lives over there. **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Headfirst**

Barbara chastised herself mentally. How could she have not realized what Dr. Nygma really was?

Dr. Nygma wasn't even his real name. According to her father's recent research his real name was Edward Nashton, he had once been a famed neurologist under the employment of Wayne Industries three years ago before he was fired by Lucius Fox under direct orders of Bruce Wayne. Apparently he had been fired because of some risqué experiments he had been performing inside the company's testing facilities.

After being fired and humiliated by his fellow peers, who had only seen him as a mad scientist of sorts, he changed his name and began a new career.

Barbara should have seen the signs, they had been in front of her the whole time, but she had ignored them. Perhaps that's why he had given her so many overdoses of prescriptions drugs, so she wouldn't be able to see through his façade.

In a way it made sense to Babs now. She had been leverage all along. Leverage that Nygma…Nashton had over her father. He had been so interested in their relationship. Barbara remembered all the times he had asked her personal questions about her family, mostly about her father.

"_How well do you get along with your father, Barbara?"_

He only wanted to help her so she would trust him, so he could get close enough to her, and she had made it so easy for him to get into her mind. She had been so vulnerable, so trusting. Her mother had been right, she shouldn't of had trusted Nygma so easily just because he was a psychiatrist. She had felt like he was the only person she could trust with her worries and her fears, but she had been wrong; like she had been wrong before about Harvey.

It seemed to be a curse that had been placed on Babs. All the men she liked and trusted turned out to be villains who only wanted to use her and hurt her, and it was always because of her father.

Harvey had wanted to kill her to exact his revenge on her father; the Joker had hurt her to make her father go insane just like he had done to Harvey after he killed Rachel; and now the Riddler most probably would kill her if her father tried to help Lucius Fox and Bruce.

She didn't hold this against her father; she knew it wasn't his fault. Her father only wanted to make things right in Gotham; he only wanted to protect his family. Unfortunately for some reason Barbara was always the one who paid when somebody wanted something from the Commissioner. Perhaps that was going to be her burden for her whole life.

---------

The next two days where mayhem in MCU; everyone was trying to find more information about Nygma and his whereabouts. But the man was like a ghost, he was even worse at tracking than the Joker. The Joker had often been seen when he had terrorized Gotham months earlier, but there were absolutely no sightings of a man in a dark green suit with a bowler hat and a gold "question mark" cane.

And the Commissioner also had to worry about the Riddler's targets. Thankfully both Mr. Fox and Bruce Wayne were now under protective custody. Of course Jim had been worried about intervening. After all the Riddler had warned him that if he tried to help Fox and Wayne he would suffer the consequences. But Gordon couldn't sit by the sidelines and do nothing, but wait until that narcissist killed two people.

Both Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox had been very cooperative, and Jim had to thank them both. They had given Jim information on the Riddler; the man whom had once been known as Dr. Edward Nashton, later known as Dr. Edward Nygma.

He should have investigated Nygma when Barbara Kean had first told him that Babs had been seeing the man.

This is why Jim didn't trust psychiatrists. You give any man too much power and they become monsters.

"Commissioner." Dick said as he stormed into the other man's office.

"Detective."

"Gordon, I think you should see this." The younger man said with a worried look on his face.

Gordon followed the other man outside where all the officers had gathered around the television screen.

It was the Riddler again sitting in the same burgundy chair, in the same white room he had been sitting before in his last TV appearance.

"_Citizens of Gotham it seems that my word of warning to our dear Commissioner seemed to not be taken into any consideration seeing as both Mr. Wayne and Mr. Fox are now under the protective custody of the Gotham PD. I did warn the Commissioner, but it seems he doesn't seem to believe that I will retaliate against him…To prove to the Commissioner and all you other citizens of this great city that I am completely serious I have place several explosives inside a couple of empty oil barrels around the city, and will rig them unless I get what I want. And I want Mr. Fox and Mr. Wayne delivered to me personally…Oh and before I say goodbye, Commissioner Gordon if you could do me one small favor and tell Barbara I am sorry to have postponed our therapy session. Tell her I will attend to her shortly after all this is over…Goodbye." _

Both Jim and Dick's eyes widened as the Riddler mentioned Barbara. After the video ended the whole office went into an upheaval. Papers were flying; people were answering phones, yelling at each other…

"Alright, everybody calm down!" Gordon yelled loudly.

All the other officers quieted down and turned their attention to their boss.

"Alright, what we need to do is find the location of these explosives and send a bomb squad there, after we've recovered all of the explosives we are going to find the location of the Riddler's hideout and catch this bastard."

--------------------

"So what's the plan again?" Two-Face asked trying his best not to scowl at the man with the purple suit.

The Joker looked around the room generally avoiding his two companions.

"Hey, are you going to answer me or not?" Harvey asked as he approached the other man, his voice rising with impatience.

The Joker looked at him as if he were seeing the other man for the first time.

"Oh, you were talking to me. I thought you were talking to yourself again." The Joker replied with a smirk on his face, and Dent wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off the other man's face.

"I'm serious Joker, what the hell is the plan?"

The Joker paced around the room before answering Harvey.

"The Riddler is the distraction. Since your dear friend the Commissioner is going to busy trying to catch this fellow, we are going to use it to our advantage."

He said as he sat down next to Harley and petted her hair. She smiled up at him with a content smile.

"Okay…but what are we going to do?"

"Well my dear two faced friend, we are going to pay a visit to an old friend." He replied smugly taking out a picture from his pocket.

Two-Face took the picture out of the other man's hand, only to see it was a picture of Barbara.

"Where did you get this?" He asked curiously as he remembered Babs had given him a similar picture.

"Wait a minute; did you steal this from me?" His voice seemed to take a sharper edge, as once again he began to let anger take over him.

"Well technically I didn't steal just borrowed."

Harvey turned away from the Joker and Harley as he looked at the picture again.

It was an old picture of Barbara; she was about eighteen when the picture had been taken. She was wearing a graduation toga and smiling brightly at the camera.

"_You can keep that photo. I have a lot of those at home." _

He stroked the photo before turning back to the Joker.

"Don't you think you've put her through enough?" He said referring to the other man's vicious assault on the redhead.

He knew about the attack of course. The Joker himself had told him about it when they had first met inside the walls of Arkham. The Joker had thought that telling Dent about the attack would make him happy, but it hadn't. It had infuriated him to an extent that he had almost killed the Joker in a bout of rage.

While in Arkham Harvey had a lot of time to think about a lot of things. His need for revenge was still there, but only for Gordon. He didn't want to hurt Barbara, because while in Arkham he had realized how much she meant to him. How she made him feel, which he wasn't still very sure of what exactly he felt for the redhead. But she was perhaps the last person in Gotham he actually genuinely cared about.

"Oh don't worry. We're not going after her, you are of course."

"What are you talking about? I thought we were after Gordon."

The Joker laughed and shook his head. "No, you're after Gordon. We however aren't." He said while signaling towards himself and Harley.

He then threw an old newspaper at Harvey, who caught it in mid air.

The newspaper had grainy photo of the Batman jumping off a building. The title on top of the photograph read 'Masked vigilante still on the loose'.

"You're going after Batman." It wasn't really a question more like a statement.

The Joker's wicked grin answered Harvey.

"I'm gonna make Batsy come out and play. Enough hiding for the big bad bat, it's time to come back into the game." The clown-like man said gleefully clapping gently with his gloved hands.

Instead of replying Two Face ignored the other man and stared longingly at the picture of Barbara.

_I will see you again, Barbara. Soon, I will see you again. _

--------------------------

Kissing Bruce Wayne was nothing like kissing Det. Dick Grayson.

Barbara hadn't meant to kiss Bruce; it just seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. She had convinced her father to let her see Bruce, who was at a local hotel away from downtown Gotham. The hotel was being guarded by at least fifty guards or more, thankfully Barbara and Bruce had been given some privacy in his luxury suite.

The first thing they did once they were away from prying eyes was give each other a warm hug. It was nice being in Bruce's muscled arms, she liked the feeling she got when she was in his arms. That feeling of being vulnerable and yet being completely protected.

"It's good to see you, Barbara." He said against the shell of her ear.

Babs smiled up at him after breaking the embrace.

"Same here." She said gently.

"I was worried."

"Don't be. I'm safe here."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she sniffed rather loudly.

"Hey it's okay." He tried to calm her as he put his hand on her shoulder.

She put a hand over his. "I know, it's just…I don't want to lose another friend." She said remembering Rachel's unfortunate death.

Bruce frowned as he remembered the assistant DA's death. Rachel Dawes, the woman he had loved for so long, she was gone and nothing he did could ever bring her back. With her death she had taken Harvey Dent's sanity as well.

"You're not going to lose me." He reassured her as he tried to smile down at her, but Rachel's face was still fresh in his mind which made smiling very hard for him. Instead he settled for half a grin.

"I wouldn't say that, you might jinx yourself."

Bruce laughed quietly and Babs joined him.

As Bruce stared at Babs who was still chuckling at her own joke, he took a good look at her. Her beautiful red hair shined underneath the fluorescent lights and her green eyes glittered with unshed tears. Immediately Bruce felt upset because he was the reason those tears had emerged. He didn't want Barbara crying and worrying about him, she had enough problems on her mind as it was.

His hand traveled from her shoulder to her hair. He ran his fingers through her hair as he had to Rachel when he had last seen her.

And then like a ton of bricks it hit him, the reason why he cared so much about Barbara, the reason why the though of her crying made him angry and sad, it wasn't just because she was his friend. It was because he loved her. He loved her like he had loved Rachel.

Barbara stared up at Bruce's gentle brown eyes, he was deep in thought as he stroked her hair, Babs had no idea what he could possibly be thinking seeing as she was to wrapped up in her own thoughts.

She felt something in the pit of her stomach, like fluttering, her heart was pounding harder than usual and that's when she knew it. That she had fallen in love with her last remaining friend. She shouldn't fall in love with him; he was probably still mourning Rachel's death, after all, the brunette had been his childhood sweetheart.

She should have excused herself minutes ago, but something kept her there, she didn't know what exactly, but something was keeping her there.

And that's when she did it, she shouldn't of had done it, but it was like an impulse that she couldn't control.

With one hand she stroked the side of his face as she pressed her lips firmly against his. They both closed their eyes as they surrendered into the kiss.

Kissing Bruce Wayne was nothing like kissing Det. Dick Grayson.

While kissing the detective had been filled with passion and desire, this kiss was gentle and filled with love and devotion. The big difference being that she was in love with Bruce, and that made the kiss even more special.

The kiss didn't last very long, a couple of seconds and their lips parted.

Bruce's eyes were wide as he looked down at the redhead. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out so he closed his mouth, and instead cleared his throat loudly as he looked away from Babs.

Barbara flushed and stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

Barbara looked up at Bruce in surprise.

"Barbara I…" He stopped and cleared his throat again as he made eye contact with Babs.

"I love you."

_I love you. _Those words echoed in her mind and her eyes widened dramatically.

"You do?" She asked unsurely and in a state of complete and utter shock.

Bruce chuckled and nodded. "Yeah."

She broke their eye contact and looked around the room. She could hear her heart beating loudly.

"I…" She tried to make the words come out, but she couldn't.

_Say it. I love you, too. Say it. _

"I'm sorry."

Bruce frowned at the words; it wasn't exactly what he was expecting after declaring his love to the woman in front of him.

Tears spilled onto her cheeks as she muttered 'I'm sorry' over and over again. She stumbled out of the room, and a guard asked her if she was alright. She ignored him and walked as fast as she could into the elevator.

Once inside the elevator she broke into a sob. Tears poured down relentlessly down her cheeks and down into her blouse. She tried to breathe, but she couldn't.

She didn't know why, but for some reason those three words couldn't come out. It was like she was unable to say them and briefly she wondered if she was really in love with Bruce.

-------------------------


	16. Harvey and Barbara

**AN: Again sorry for making you guys wait so long. I'm excited today 'cause as everyone probably knows Obama was inaugurated today as the 44th president of the USA. I'm happy and hopeful. I'm also glad that my writer's block ended (for today at least). **

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Harvey and Barbara**

As Barbara entered her apartment she felt a sense of emptiness; she loved Bruce with all her heart, but for some reason the words couldn't make their way out. She couldn't find the strength to say them.

"_Barbara, I think you have a problem with letting people in. You have an emotional barrier that blocks everyone you love. Why is that? Is it because you're mother didn't pay you enough attention as a child? Is it because you're little brother stole you're father's love?"_

"Shut up!" She yelled as Nygma's voice spoke in her thoughts.

"_You know it's the truth Barbara. You're just a weak scared little girl, you couldn't stop the Joker, and you couldn't stop me. You weak stupid little girl!"_

"Stop!" She clutched her head as she tried to stop the voice in her head from taunting her.

As she opened her eyes she saw the pills Nygma had given her sitting in the kitchen counter. She grabbed them hastily with one hand and made her way into the bathroom where she unscrewed the bottles hurriedly, dropping her clutch in her haste. She then proceeded to drop the contents into the toilet before flushing it.

"You can't control me anymore."

"_That's what you think, but I'm inside your head. I am always with you." _

Barbara gasped as she realized that wasn't Nygma's voice it was the Joker's.

"No, no, no…" She drifted as her mind was suddenly filled with images of that dreadful night.

"_I told you all it takes is one day to reduce the sanest man into lunacy."_

_He reached forwards touching her face, before moving down to her chest. His gloved hand felt cold as ice against her skin._

_He tore the buttons of her blouse, tearing it off her body and throwing it to the floor._

"_Oh, purple. My favorite color." He said while referring to the color of her bra._

_Barbara blinked back the tears; she didn't want this madman to see her showing weakness. But it was very hard not to cry, she was being humiliated by this sadistic psychopath, while his henchmen stood by laughing as they watched their boss basically tear the clothes off a helpless woman who had just been shot by said man._

_He took a small knife out of the outer pocket of his jacket, with it he started to cut into Barbara's skirt until her legs, and most of her thighs were revealed. Then he took the knife and traced small patterns around her breasts._

_Barbara could feel the cold metal against her flesh and she flinched as she felt it cut through it. The cut was not that deep, but it still hurt._

_Her teeth shattered against each other as she began to shiver, her body felt incredibly cold from the lack of clothing._

_The Joker stood up, pleased with his creation. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and took a digital camera out._

"_Smile.", he said in a condescending manner._

_And then all she could see was a bright white light._

And then she fainted falling into the cold tiles beneath her feet.

-------------

When she woke up again the first thing she noticed was that she was not lying on her bathroom floor. She was in her bedroom lying down on her bed.

_How did I get here? _She thought as she began to rise from the bed.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You hit you're head pretty hard, you should lie down."

Barbara looked to where the voice was coming from, but the person seemed to be hidden by the shadows. She thought the voice sounded familiar, but her head still hurt which made her thoughts muddle.

"Who is that? How did you get into my apartment?" She asked as she backed into the bed, she had no weapons with her, there was no way she could protect herself, but that didn't mean she was going down without a fight.

"Answer me!" She shouted at the mysterious figure after a couple of minutes of silence.

The figure didn't answer instead he stepped into the light.

Barbara gasped as the identity of the mysterious figure emerged from the shadows and was bathed with the moonlight that came into the room through the open shutters.

"Harvey?" She just couldn't believe that Harvey Dent was standing there in front of her.

He approached her bedside and she fell down as she attempted to get as far away from him as possible.

"Get away from me!"

"Barbara!" He said as she fell from the bed with a loud thump.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to…"

_I just wanted to see you__. _That's what he wanted to say, but it didn't seem like the appropriate thing to say nor was asking her how she was doing.

"How did you get out of Arkham?" She asked after calming down, she was still cautious as she lifted herself up from the floor and sat on the corner of the bed, as far away from Harvey as possible.

"I escaped with the help of an employee." He didn't real feel like mentioning the Joker, seeing as bringing him into the conversation might upset Barbara again, and if she knew the madman had escaped God knows how she would react.

She looked at the floor. This man had been her friend once, she had even loved him for some time; he had been a good man once before the Joker arrived and changed everything.

This same man had also threatened to kill her little brother, terrorized her family, tried to make her father's life a living hell, and he had also tried to kill her.

And here he was sitting on her bed like none of that had happened.

She felt him scooted closer to her side until they were only inches apart.

She thought she saw red at the moment as an inescapable rage filled her.

"You tried to kill me." She said through gritted teeth as she tried to control her anger, but she could contain it any longer.

She turned to him and slapped the unmarred side of his face with so much force she surprised herself.

Harvey accepted the slap after all it was the least he deserved.

"Do you feel better…" He was interrupted as she slapped him again in the same cheek.

And then after the second slap, she hit him again.

"How dare you come here? Did you think I'd welcome you with open arms? You tried to kill me!" She said as she shouted into his face.

The good side of his face was a bright red color from the three harsh slaps he had received from Barbara; each had been more painful than the other. But again, he deserved each and every one of them.

"I deserved that...I'm not asking for forgiveness, I just wanted to see you if only for the last time."

Barbara was still breathing harshly, she looked at Harvey straight in the eyes she burst into tears.

Harvey wanted to comfort her, but he was afraid of how she would react if he touched her.

"I'm going to call my father, and he's gonna put you back in Arkham. I don't want you to fight it. Just please go peacefully." She said after she finished crying, she didn't look at him directly again, she just stared at the floor with all the concentration in the world.

"No, Barbara. You're in danger, I can't leave you."

"What are you talking about?" Her eyes met his again as she questioned him.

He had to tell her about the Joker eventually, but he wasn't sure which would be the right time.

"Look I didn't escape Arkham alone."

"What?"

Barbara was starting to get nervous.

"Umm…The Joker escaped as well."

There was only silence following his revelation.

It didn't register in her mind until after a couple of minutes. Her eyes widened dramatically, she felt her heart begin to pump rapidly, her stomach ached, her mouth went dry and her mind went blank.

Harvey noticed the color drain from Barbara's face, she looked like she had just seen a ghost, and Harvey realized just how much the Joker had affected Babs.

This was not the carefree Barbara he knew, she had been replaced by a woman who had been beaten and scarred.

If Harvey had been sentimental he would have cried then for the loss of his friend's optimism and innocence, but Rachel's death had stolen that side of him. He was surprised for how much pity he felt for Babs, he thought that all the compassion he had once had, had been extinguished the night Rachel was killed; but apparently there was still some there hidden deep inside of himself. Those emotions that were hidden were only accessible to him when he thought of Babs.

"You have to go somewhere safe, Barbara." He said as he tried to wake her from her comatose-like state.

He wanted to say that she should probably go her father's place, but he still felt a strong loathing for Gordon, and the thought of mentioning the man's name made Harvey physically ill.

"Where?" She whispered into the air, the question barely audible.

"Come with me. I can keep you safe, Barbara. Away from the Joker and the Riddler. I won't let them harm you."

Again he was met with silence.

"Alright, but you have to promise me something."

He nodded and listened with curiosity.

"I want you to promise me that after the Joker is caught you'll go back to Arkham where you belong."

As much as he hated Arkham, part of him knew that Barbara was right, he belonged in Arkham. And he would go back to Arkham after the Joker was caught once again and of course after he killed James Gordon.

"Alright."

"Oh, and another thing Harvey. If you try to hurt my father or my family again I will kill you myself, and please try not to touch me."

----

Please read and review.


	17. Deceived

**AN: Again sorry I took so long to update. Anyway I'm so excited I just learned Emily Blunt (my inspiration for Babs) is going to play another redhead. She's going to play the Black Widow in the Iron Man sequel. I'm so happy cus' I love Iron Man, and I'm just dying to see her scenes with Robert Downey, Jr. **

**Also I think you guys should know that I'm writing another fanfic right now, it has nothing to do with Batman, it's actually an X-Men fanfic. Don't worry I'm going to keep writing this one and I still plan to do another sequel...Oh and just so you know I won't post the X-Men fanfic until I am finished with this one. **

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Deceived**

-

Harvey drove Barbara to a hideout in the Narrows in a car he had recently stolen.

"We're here." He murmured as he parked the car around the corner of an abandoned apartment complex.

Barbara took a good look at the decaying building. "What is this place?"

"It's an old apartment complex, we'll be safe here."

They got out of the car and entered the building. Barbara had forgotten to bring her clutch so she limped slightly as she walked.

The elevators didn't work so obviously they had to take the stairs. They stopped when they reached the fifth floor.

Harvey walked opened the door that led to the hallway. "Come on."

Babs gave him an uncertain look before walking through the door well.

Harvey led her down the grimy corridor until they reached apartment 512.

Dent pushed the door firmly until it opened. He walked into the apartment first followed by Babs.

She took a good look at her surroundings; the walls were covered in grime, the paint was faded, and the furniture was covered in dust.

Just then she heard a boisterous laughter coming from the next room. She made her way to the other room carefully using the wall for support.

She gasped quietly once she reached the other room.

A young pixie-like woman was lying on the couch; she had short blonde hair, and hazel green eyes.

She had a cosmopolitan magazine in hand, and was laughing as she apparently read an article.

The woman stopped reading as she felt the redhead's eyes upon her. She looked up at Babs and gave her an unsettling smile.

"Hello you must Barbara, Mr. Jay has told me so much about you." She alleged, her tone of voice was overly sweet, but there was some malice hidden underneath it.

The woman's smile made Babs feel uncomfortable.

"Who are you?"

The blonde woman laughed again. "I'm Harley Quinn."

_She looks familiar. _Barbara thought as she inspected the woman.

"Harley Quinn?" Barbara echoed.

"Harleen Quinzel…" Babs drifted off as she gaped at the woman in front of her.

She had never seen the psychiatrist face to face, but she had seen the woman's picture in the newspapers once or twice whenever it featured a story about Arkham.

"Mr. Jay was right, you're very pretty."

"Mr. Jay?" Babs asked her voice trembling.

"I can't believe you've already forgotten about me."

A voice came from the corner of the dark room, next to the ratty brown couch Quinzel was lying on.

The figure was surrounded by shadows, but Babs didn't need to see the person's face to know who it was. She recognized that voice anywhere.

She started to back away, but she collided with a warm firm body behind her.

Turning her head she saw Harvey behind her. He closed his arms around her. She struggled against him, but to no avail.

"Let go of me." She almost begged as she sniveled against Harvey's strong hold.

It was suddenly so clear, how could she have been so stupid. Of course Harvey was going to betray her, he was no longer her friend, but a psychopath bound on revenge. He didn't give a damn about her.

"You bastard!" Babs hissed as she struggled further against Harvey.

The Joker laughed as he stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light.

He approached Barbara slowly like a predator stalking his prey. "I see you're walking again."

His eyes raked over her body. The madman's intense gaze unsettled her.

His eyes meet hers, and she thought for a moment she was going to get sucked inside his hateful glare.

"Tie her to the chair." He ordered Harvey who obliged, before stepping out of the room.

There was a chair in the middle of the room right in front of the couch were Harleen Quinzel…or Harley Quinn as she now called herself was lying down fanning herself as she stared at Barbara with amusement palpable in her pretty eyes.

Two Face moved Barbara towards the chair where he sat her down gently. He tied her up with some rope that had been lying down next to the chair.

Babs struggled against her bonds as she tried to break free, but to no purpose.

The rope was so tight that it was cutting the skin above her wrists.

She moaned in pain and stopped struggling.

The redhead gave Harvey a look of pure loathing.

"You told me you'd protect me! You lied!"

"You're only here to lure the Batman, once the Joker has him he'll let you go." Dent reassured her.

Barbara looked at Harvey as if she couldn't believe what he was saying.

"You're joking right…" she trailed off looking briefly at Harley Quinn, who had turned her attention back to her magazine "…if you believe that, then you're an idiot." She finished looking back at Harvey who was sporting a large frown. She had forgotten that the new Harvey had an anger problem.

Angrily he covered her mouth with a piece of duct tape.

Her eyes followed his every move until he was out of the room.

"You know you remind me of a friend of mine."

Her gaze rested on Harley Quinn who had just spoken.

"You have red hair, like hers." She continued as she gave the bound woman a disconcerting look.

Harley smiled at her distress. "I think you and I are going to be very good friends, don't you?"

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Please r & r


	18. Not going down without a fight

**AN: Okay I know it's a short chapter, but I've been really busy. I promise that the next chapter will be a lot longer than this one. **

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Not going down without a fight**

**---**

Barbara's eyes opened quickly as soon as she heard a banging noise.

"I told you to stop playing with that."

"Ow! Harvey that hurts…"

She recognized the two voices arguing. It was Harvey "Two Face" Dent and Harley Quinn, two of her three captors.

Barbara tried to speak, but her voice was muffled; it was then that she noticed that her mouth was still taped.

Harvey and Harley were fighting about something. Babs wasn't paying attention to their argument she was too busy loosening the rope around her wrists.

She managed to free one of her wrists from the tight rope. It began bleeding profusely as the rope cut the skin right through, and she thanked God that her mouth was still covered with duct tape as she cried out in pain. She freed her other wrist and tore part of her sleeve and put it around her wound before uncovering her mouth.

She moved down to her feet and untied the rope as swiftly as she possibly could under the circumstances.

The redhead stood up rapidly when she heard footsteps approaching. She grabbed a ceramic lamp that was on the coffee table and stood beside the wall.

She waited until the figure entered the room. It was Harvey of course.

"What the…" His voice was interrupted as Barbara broke the lamp over his head.

He fell to the floor unconscious.

"Hey Harv, you okay in there?" Harley's worried voice rang through the air as she heard the large thump Harvey's body made as he hit the floor.

"Oh shit." Babs exclaimed, for a minute there she had completely forgotten about Harley.

When Harley entered the room she stared at Harvey's body and then at Barbara in shock.

_It's now or never._ Babs thought as she threw herself on top of Harley. She scratched and punched and kicked with all her might. Harley tried to fight back, but to no avail.

With all her strength Barbara punched Harley.

The punch was so strong that the blonde lost complete consciousness.

Breathing heavily Babs stood up and made her way out of the apartment as soon as she heard the Joker's footsteps hit the concrete floor.

She tried to walk down the hallway as fast as she possibly could. She made her way into the stairwell. The Joker's footsteps followed her, he was technically snapping at her heels.

Barbara hid behind a staircase and hoped to God that the Joker passed right through without seeing her.

As the Joker got closer to her his footsteps got slower and slower.

Babs put her hand over her mouth as she began to hyperventilate.

_Please God don't let him see me. Let him just walk through._ She prayed silently as her eyes began to water.

Then the footsteps stopped completely. Babs sighed in relief.

Then she felt a hand grasp her hair roughly.

She screamed in pain and fear.

-

"Now…Now…Shhh..." The Joker muttered as one hand grasped the young woman's hair and pulled her down onto the floor.

From the corner of her eye she saw a needle glistening in the dim light.

"No." She whispered as the Joker impaled the needle he was holding into her neck.

"Don't worry. You'll wake up soon enough." The grinning man assured her as she slipped into the dark abyss of unconsciousness.

---------


	19. Jell O

**AN: I told you guys this chapter would be longer and so it is. Lauren I have missed you. Yay I'm glad you're back and I'm glad you're liking the story so far. I hope you and my other faithful reviewers like this chapter. Trust me the next one is going to be even better. **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Jell-O**

**---**

"Hold her still." The Joker commanded towards Harvey who was currently trying to hold Barbara down.

She was shaking her head from side to side and wobbling her shoulders as much as she could. The Joker was holding a pair of scissors in one hand and that certainly unsettled Barbara.

She had no idea what he had in mind, but whatever it was it could not be anything good.

"I can't hold her head and her shoulders at the same time." Two Face complained as he struggled to hold Barbara's shoulders.

"I'll do it." Harley said as she put down the ice pack she had been holding to her left eye down onto the coffee table. She smirked as she approached Babs. Her left eye was puffy and red from where Barbara had punched her earlier.

She grabbed Babs' head tightly and stopped the other woman's insatiable shaking.

The Joker smiled at his comrade before cutting a lock of hair from Barbara's head.

"There we go." He said smiling as he held the lock of hair between his fingers.

"Now that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

--------

_Why Babs? Why couldn't you tell me you love me?_

_*Knock, knock*_

The knocking on the door interrupted Bruce's restless thoughts.

"Come in." He said hoping that it was Gordon, there to tell him they had caught the Riddler.

It wasn't Gordon, but some nameless police officer. The police officer handed Bruce a white envelope.

"It's for you, sir."

The envelope had no address or no name attached to it.

"Do you know who sent it?"

The man scratched his head before answering.

"We were told it was from your butler, Alfred."

_Alfred…__How strange…_

Bruce shrugged before thanking the officer who stepped out of the room quickly.

The billionaire opened the envelope hastily and pulled out a simple looking letter.

_Dear Brucey…or should I say Batman_

Bruce gaped in shock. Whoever had written this letter knew of his secret identity. He kept reading with unfathomable concentration.

_Dum, Dum, Dum… I know what a big shocker. Someone besides your prissy butler knows you're secret identity. I've known for some time now Batsy. It wasn't that hard to figure out I just had to put the dots together. _

_Does it make you angry? That I know you're big dark secret. You may be wondering who I am, well the answer to that question is quite simple. I'll give you a hint, actually I'll give you three, I like purple, I killed you're girlfriend, and I drove Harvey Dent insane, still don't know who it?_

"Joker." Bruce whispered as he kept reading the letter in absolute shock.

_Yes it's me Batsy…The big bad Joker. You know I must say I am disappointed. Who knew the Batman was a rich overgrown kid? I mean really you're mommy and daddy got shot. That's all so…boring. _

_I expected something more shocking. Like you were secretly a transvestite prostitute or something. Now that would make headlines. Anyways let's get back to the real subject. And while we're on track I'll answer some of the questions you're probably asking yourself. _

_Yes I have escaped from Arkham with the help of my new friend, you may have heard of her. Dr. Harleen Quinzel…or should I say Harley Quinn…and also your old friend, Harvey Dent. _

"That's not possible Harvey's dead." Bruce rationalized while he kept reading the letter.

_You probably thought Dear old Harvey was dead or so you were lead to believe as was the rest of Gotham by you're so called friends. Yes dear old Jim and that delicious cream puff that he has for a daughter lied to you._

_You see I told you, those decent folks they don't trust a freak like you. They kept you in the dark Batsy. They let you take the blame for a man who is currently living and breathing, no he's not dead. I should know he's sitting right next to me at this very moment. I'm actually kind of grateful old Harvey ended up in Arkham. He's been so helpful you know with helping me capture Red and all. It's good to know that the redhead still has some fight in her. _

"Babs." He whispered helplessly as he realized that Barbara was once again in the clutches of the madman.

_You know Bruce for a minute there I really thought I had broken her, but it seems like I'm just going to have to work a little harder on it. If you want her to live then you're just going to have to follow my instructions. _

_First, you're going to leave the hotel you're staying in. _

_Second, you're going to leave behind Gordon's little posse._

_Third, you're going to come to the old apartment building around the corner of Fitch Boulevard. That's all the way in the Narrows, but of course you already know that. _

_Oh and you only have a few hours left. I hope you come for the sake of Miss Gordon._

_Your dear old friend,_

_The Joker_

A lock of red hair was glued next to the Joker's messy signature. Bruce was definitely convinced that the lock of hair belonged to Barbara.

He caressed the lock while whispering softly. "Don't worry Babs. I'm going to save you."

---------------

Dick Grayson entered Commissioner Gordon's office with a big smile on his face.

Gordon gave him a bad look, but due to the circumstances he kept his mouth shut.

"What do you have for me?" The older man asked optimistically.

"You're going to love this." He said cockily as he plopped himself down on a chair.

Gordon just gave him an annoyed look.

"The so called empty barrels of oil weren't filled with explosives at all…" He drifted off before laughing.

Gordon just gave the man a strange look and urged him to continue.

"The barrels were filled with Jell-O."

"Yellow?" Gordon asked extremely confused.

"Not yellow the color. Jell-O…As in jello gelatin." He finished chuckling to himself.

"Gelatin?" He stopped before continuing. "What kind of criminal leaves gelatin."

"Well apparently this nut job. You have to admit it's pretty funny." The younger detective said as he tried to stifle his laughter.

Gordon chuckled quietly. "I suppose you're right. It is pretty funny. Gelatin…God these crazies are driving me crazy."

Dick stopped laughing and his face suddenly became stoic and serious.

"Sir, has there been any sighting on…on…well you know."

"No, there has been sighting no sighting on the Joker." He insisted with an unemotional tone. That was the same tone he used whenever he spoke of the Joker and the Batman of course.

Dick understood why he was always so gloomy when he spoke of the Joker; of course the Commissioner had his reasons. But Dick always wondered why he used that tone when he spoke of the masked vigilante.

Ellen entered her boss' office with a nervous look on her pretty face.

Jim stared at the young detective for a few moments. She looked very pretty today, her hair was down and curled and she was wearing a little bit of makeup which she rarely ever wore.

_Stop it Jim. What is wrong with you?_ He thought to himself as he looked down at his desk.

"Yin."

"Commissioner…Mr. Wayne called. He sounded angry. He said he wanted to speak with you." She said looking down at the floor timidly.

_Bruce Wayne_

"Bruce Wayne called? What for?"

-

Ellen shook her head. "He didn't say. He only said he wanted to talk to you in person. He demanded it actually."

Gordon looked at Dick who merely shrugged and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

_What could Wayne possibly want at this hour?_

"All right Yin. Call back to the hotel and tell Wayne I'll be there."

Ellen nodded shyly and met Gordon's eyes before walking out of the room.

Jim tried to shake that strange sensation he felt whenever he looked into the young woman's eyes.

"So Jim, what do you think Wayne wants?"

"I don't know, but it better be good."

------------

"Does anyone here have any idea why Wayne called?" Jim asked the police officers that were stationed outside of Wayne's hotel room.

Some men shook their heads, others shrugged.

Gordon rolled his eyes and knocked on Wayne's door.

"Wayne it's me, Gordon…You wanted to speak with me."

"Come in, Commissioner." A voice answered from inside.

The Commissioner opened the door to find Wayne dressed up in one of his many designer suits. His suitcase in hand.

"Commissioner I wanted to speak to you. I think I needed to tell you in person that I'm leaving the hotel. I'm going back to the city, to my penthouse." Wayne declared while he held his suitcase tightly.

Jim's eyes widened. Wayne couldn't be serious after all the Riddler was still out there.

"Mr. Wayne I don't think you understand the kind of danger you're in…"

Bruce interrupted the older man hastily. "No, you don't understand Commissioner. I have a business, I am a very busy man, and I cannot wait until you catch this criminal. I think I've waited long enough." He finished determined. He was leaving this hotel one way or another. Babs didn't have time for nonsense. The Joker could strike at any moment, and he always kept his word. If he said he was going to hurt Babs, he was going to hurt her. After all he had done it before.

"Mr. Wayne…"

"That's enough Gordon. I've had enough of your talk. I'm going back to my penthouse. Rest assure I'll be safe there." He said stepping out of the hotel room.

Gordon followed him and nodded towards the other officers who gave him questioning looks as Bruce made his way towards the elevators. Once the billionaire was out of sight one of the officers approached Gordon.

"Sir, you're just going to let him go?"

"I can't make him stay if he doesn't want to. If he wants to leave, we gotta let him leave." He alleged sounding slightly defeated. Silently he prayed that nothing bad happened to Wayne.

----


	20. The Rescue Mission

Chapter Nineteen

The Rescue Mission

--

Gordon sighed defeated. He paced his office relentlessly. He had tried calling Wayne, but the man seemed to refuse to answer his phone calls. His butler Alfred had reassured the Commissioner that the billionaire was resting, but Gordon hadn't bought the excuse.

Grayson entered his boss' office without even bothering to knock on the door, after all there was no need for knocking, they had both gotten acquainted to the point were they trusted one another.

"Alright…Tell me what happened." The other man said panting slightly as he tried to regain his breath. It had looked like he had jogged his way there.

Gordon gave the other man an annoyed look before speaking. "Wayne refuses to have protective custody. He's left the hotel."

Dick shook his head, the corner of his mouth rising lightly.

"You know I knew Wayne was conceited, but even for him this is rich…I mean who does the man think he is, Superman." He blurted out not knowing how ironic his statement really was.

Gordon didn't think it was funny; he wasn't in the mood for jokes. He was too busy worrying about Wayne's safety.

"If something happens to Wayne I don't think I could live with myself." Gordon said with a dejected look on his face as he plopped down on the chair next to Dick's.

"Why is that?"

"Well apart from the fact that he's an innocent civilian, he's also one of Babs' closest friends. I already failed two of them. I just…don't want her to suffer again." Gordon explained with a somber tone.

Of course Dick knew what the Commissioner was referring to, the unfortunate deaths of assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes and District Attorney Harvey Dent. They had died days away from each other; both had dedicated their lives to rebuilding Gotham. Their deaths came as a shock to a community that was still grieving the deaths of Judge Surrillo and Commissioner Loeb.

The Gotham Times described their deaths as 'An American Tragedy'.

"Wayne will be fine; after all, the guy is rich. I'm sure he can afford bodyguards. You should know by now Jim, rich people don't get killed in this town only the poor do." Dick said as he took a cigarette from his coat pocket.

"You got a light?"

Gordon nodded as he eyed the cigarette with distaste.

"That's a bad habit you've got." He said as he handed the other man a disposable lighter.

Dick inhaled as he lit the cigarette before handing the lighter back to Gordon.

"Since when did you quit?" Dick asked the older man as he exhaled the smoke from his lungs.

"A week ago, Barbara Sr. was getting suspicious. She thinks I quit years ago when Sarah was born. The truth is I never did."

Dick arched an eyebrow his interest peeking. "I wonder, what other things you hide from you're wife."

Jim sighed. "Too many to count. I know this will sound strange, but you're the only one I can talk to…"

"I don't think I love her anymore, my wife. I mean I love her I just don't…I'm not in love with her anymore."

Dick's eyes widened at his boss' statement, he had always thought that the Commissioner was deeply devoted to his wife.

Dick gulped before taking another drag of his cigarette. "Why don't you think you love her anymore?"

"When I look at her I don't feel that spark I use to feel. Every time I looked at her I felt breathless, I felt like I was the luckiest man in the world, but recently I just don't feel anything. I look at her and I don't feel warm inside. I mean I still care about her; she's the mother of my children. I'll always love her, but not like before." He finished as he motioned towards Dick's cigarette.

Richard gave him his cigarette, and the other man inhaled greedily.

Gordon tried to give back Dick his cigarette, but the younger man shook his head before speaking.

"You finish it, looks like you need it more than me."

Gordon nodded as he gave Dick a small smile in gratitude.

He finished the cigarette before turning it off and flicking it to the trash can.

"This thing with your wife, it wouldn't have anything to do with a certain rookie detective we both know."

Jim's eyes got as wide as saucers, he chocked on the smoke that still inhabited his lungs.

"Ellen! You're joking right?!" He exclaimed outraged.

Dick laughed at his boss' distress.

"I'm sorry, it was a joke. A bad joke, but a joke none the less. Besides Yin is too young for you."

Gordon almost took the last statement as an insult, but then when he really thought about it he knew it was true. Yin was young and beautiful she could have any man she wanted, why would she even glance at him, after all he was nothing but an old man with a gun.

--------------------

Babs' eyes opened automatically as soon as she felt someone's hand stroke her forehead. Her green eyes were met by an icy blue stare.

She could swear she saw Harvey's jaw tighten as she woke up.

She moaned as her injured wrist began to bleed again. Harvey noticed the woman's agony as her eyes squeezed shut. He kneeled down in front of her and loosened the roped slightly.

"Is that better?"

Barbara nodded as she stared at Harvey surprised that he was worried about her well being. Harvey's eyes had softened considerably and he gave Babs a small smile.

Carefully he ripped the piece of duct tape covering Babs' mouth.

"Thank you." She responded breathless as she looked down at Harvey.

He stood up not breaking their eye contact.

"Your welcome." He said as he began to walk way.

"Harvey…don't leave."

He gasped silently at the sound of her voice. She sounded so vulnerable, so needy, he had wanted to hear that need in her voice, and the fact that she needed him to stay there made him quiver with excitement. He turned back towards her, his face once again steel cold. His blue eyes hardened, his jaw tightened, his body tensed.

Her eyes watered at his cold attitude. She missed his carefree smile, she missed the warmth in his eyes, she missed everything about the old Harvey. The Harvey that didn't care about revenge or retribution. Not this Harvey, it wasn't just part of his face that was missing, it was like half of his soul had been ripped away from him.

And yet, even after everything that had happened. There was still some of the old Harvey left in there.

"Harvey please, you don't have to do this. Let me go, please. Don't let him hurt me again." The redhead tried to plead to her old friend.

Two Face's eyes softened at this.

"_I don't want to live without you. And I do have an answer for you. And my answer is yes."_

His eyes hardened once again as he remembered Rachel's tearful response as they spoke through the wired phones. Gordon had been responsible for her death.

He had tore them apart. The love of his life was dead and it was all Jim Gordon's fault. There was no one else to blame. If he let Barbara go there was no way he would ever get a chance to avenge Rachel again.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Barbara." He said his voice hard and tight. He turned the corner and left the other woman helpless and tied up.

Barbara leaned back against the chair as she watched her former friend leave her tied up and helpless.

"_Wow, I'm impressed." Barbara admitted following Rachel and Harvey outside_.

"_So am I…It's too bad that we couldn't link the gun to Maroni but the fact that they're trying to kill you shows that we're getting to them."_

_Rachel almost looked excited about the fact that her boyfriend almost got his head blown to bits in an open courtroom._

"_Well, I'm glad that you're so concerned over my well-being. Oh, I'm fine, by the way." he said sarcastically._

"_Come on, Harvey. You're Gotham's new District Attorney. If you're not getting shot at, then you're not doing your job right…But you know if you're really worked up, we could go to my apartment and take the rest of the day off." Rachel said flirtatiously__while leaning on Harvey._

"_Eww, if you guys are going to start acting all lovey-dovey, please don't do it around me."_

_-_

Tears fell from Barbara's eyes down to her cheeks as the memory flooded her mind. That image of a sane Harvey and a living Rachel, smiling and talking happily was too much for her to take.

She closed her eyes and tried to doze off before feeling a hand touch her shoulder.

"Harvey?" She wondered as she opened her eyes.

She gasped. The figure in front of her was most definitely not Harvey Dent.

Batman stood there clocked in black like the dark knight he was.

"Bat…"

She was interrupted as Batman put a finger in front of his mouth as he silently shushed her. He motioned towards the other room and instantly Barbara got the message. If Harvey heard anything remotely suspicious he would discover them, and all hell would break loose.

Babs nodded and motioned towards her wrists. Batman cut her loose quickly.

He began to help her stand up when she wobbled and felt an immense pain in her legs. She had put a lot of weight on them in her previous attempt to escape, and apparently it had been too much for her still delicate legs. She moaned quietly in pain.

Bruce noticed the grimace of pain that flashed across Barbara's face and knew that she was in no condition to walk so he picked her up bridal style.

"I'm going to need you to be very quiet. Do you understand?"

Babs nodded and closed her eyes as she leaned against him. The cold radiating from his Kevlar suit was welcoming in a strange way.

He walked slowly stopping briefly as he glimpsed into the other room. When he saw that the coast was clear he took advantage of the opportunity and walked into the other room until he reached the window. He set Barbara down gently and she leaned against the wall for support.

He opened the window carefully before hearing Barbara's anxious voice.

"Be careful, he's behind you!" She yelled as she saw Harvey approaching them. He had an angry look in his eyes and an ugly scowl in his face.

Bruce turned quickly catching Harvey's impending fist in his gloved hand. He had never been more grateful to Lucius for fixing his suit.

Dent tried to break free from the Batman's hold, but the other man was too strong. So he did the next best thing and head butted the other man. Despite his mask and head gear the blow caught Bruce off guard, and he relinquished his hold on Two Face.

The other man smirked and kicked Batman through the open window.

Barbara screamed at the sight of her savior being hurled through the large window.

Harvey smiled, showing all of his pearly whites as he walked towards the frightened young woman.

She closed her eyes in fear just as the Batman flew in through the window kicking Two Face straight in the chest.

The impact of the blow was so strong that Dent fell to the floor and into unconsciousness.

Babs opened her eyes as she heard a loud thump. Batman was standing in front of her regaining his breath while Harvey lay on the floor in a deep sleep.

Bruce gathered Barbara into his arms in the fashion of a tight hug.

"Hold on to me." He said as he let go of her.

She put her hands around his neck as he threw a wire across to the other building.

His left hand held the wire while his right arm went around her waist. She tightened her hold around his neck as they flew up into the air. They landed on the other building's fire escape.

"Can you go down the stairs?" Batman asked the injured redhead who nodded after taking a glance at the stairs below.

"I think so." She said unsure, but willing to try.

Just then a bullet flew past her head and landed on the concrete wall behind her.

"Hurry." The Batman said as he saw the Joker getting ready to take another shot.

The fear gripped her and the adrenaline rushed through her as she began to descend down the stairwell.

The Joker kept firing at them; thankfully he seemed to have a bad aim and missed all of his shots. When Babs and Batman were both on the ground they ran down to the end of the alley until they reached the Batpod. Barbara gulped when she looked down at the scary looking motorcycle type vehicle.

"What's that?" She asked looking back and forth from the vehicle to the vigilante next to her.

"The Batpod." He answered before getting on the vehicle.

"Come on."

She gulped and hopped behind him. The position was awkward to say the least seeing as she was technically lying on top of Batman.

"Here put this around you." The Batman said handing the redhead a cable. She did as she was told as she wondered what he was planning.

"Now tie the end around me."

Again she did as she was told tying the rest of the cable around his waist.

Now it made sense the cable would prevent her from falling off the Batpod. Barbara sighed in relief, but put her arms around the Batman's shoulder for support.

"Hold on tight." The vigilante said as he turned on the vehicle and took off into the night.

-------------------


	21. The Half Killed

**AN: Okay so no author's note last time. It was late and I was tired, sorry. This chapter isn't as long as I would like it to be, but I felt like if I united this one and the other chapter after this one they wouldn't match, because there was too much going on, and this chapter is suppose to be more about Barbara and Bruce. The title comes from a song from the Atonement OST by Dario Marianelli called, you guessed it, The Half Killed, if you have a chance to listen to it, do it. It's a great song. Actually that whole soundtrack is amazing. **

**Oh, I never do this, but what the heck...**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Warner Bros., Chris Nolan, and DC Comics. I own nothing, not even Babs.**

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--

Chapter Twenty

The Half Killed

--

The motorcycle ride had seemed like an eternity. Barbara was terrified, they had been going at least 100 miles per hour.

Thankfully for Babs they stopped when they reached an old warehouse.

_This seems familiar_. She thought as got out of her uncomfortable position on the Batpod.

Walking inside the building she finally realized why that place seemed so familiar.

"250 52nd street." She whispered to herself as an old memory flooded her mind.

--

"_Mom…Mom! Jimmy…Sarah! We have to get out of here!", she yelled with no avail._

_None of her family members replied to her screams, and Barbara began to wonder if someone had gotten to them already. She tried not to think about anything negative as she searched around the burned down warehouse._

"_Barbara, what's wrong?", she heard her mother's voice just around a corner._

_As she turned she felt an arm snake around her neck, and set her into a strong chokehold. She couldn't move, she could barely breathe. Her mother gasped as she saw her daughter being restrained. Babs could see the terrified expressions on her siblings' faces and it scared her even more to see her family so utterly frightened._

"_Hello Babs."_

_--_

Barbara shivered as she remembered the way that Harvey's warm arm had snaked around her neck. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, she had been at his complete mercy.

--

_James fell to the ground and grunted in pain. He sat up slightly wincing; when he was just about to stand up, Harvey stopped him as he pointed the gun straight at him._

"_This is where they brought her, Gordon…after your men handed her over. This is where she died." Dent said melancholically as he glanced around the warehouse and then back at Gordon._

"_I know. I was here, trying to save her." Gordon told the vengeful DA as he tried to reason with him._

"_But you didn't!" Harvey yelled angrily as he approached the fallen Commissioner._

"_I couldn't!" Jim Gordon replied desperately_.

--

Barbara remembered the look that had passed his father's face. The guilt he felt was visible, but it hadn't been his fault, it had all been the Joker's fault. He had been the only one responsible for Rachel's death. But Harvey didn't want to see the truth, he only believed what the Joker told him.

--

_Tears prickled around the corner of James' eyes, as he watched Dent point the gun at his eldest daughter._

"_Please, Harvey stop.", he spoke louder this time as he tried to plead for his daughter's life._

_Finally Harvey moved to Jimmy, who moved closer to his mother, and clutched his little sister harder._

"_Goddamn it, will you stop pointing that gun at my family?!" The Commissioner finally shouted._

_Harvey smiled content with the reaction he had gotten out of Gordon. Secretly the DA was happy that it hadn't been Barbara._

"_We have a winner.", he said as he moved forward to grab the boy._

_Barbara Sr. tried to hold on to her son, but it was no use. Harvey grabbed the boy effortlessly; he pulled the boy up, and moved away from Gordon and his family._

"_No. Jim, stop him!" The boy's mother pleaded to her husband._

_Barbara began to cry louder as she watched her helpless little brother at the hands of the man she cared for dearly._

"_Harvey? Harvey! I'm sorry! For everything!", he apologized desperately._

"_Please, don't hurt my son." Gordon pleaded, as he watched his son begin to cry quietly._

_--_

Tears streaked down Babs' cheeks as she remembered seeing her little brother crying and Harvey holding a gun to his head. Her father pleading for Jimmy's life. Harvey's antipathy towards her father's suffering. He had almost seemed to enjoy the other man's distress.

--

_Barbara interrupted her father as she stood up._

_Harvey gave her a curious look, before taking a step back._

"_Take me…Leave him alone, take me. It was also my fault…I was there with Rachel at MCU. I left her alone…I'm also responsible.", she confessed crying._

_Gordon stared at his daughter with alarm._

"_Barbara don't…" Her father tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't have it._

"_Take me. Leave my brother alone, and take me."_

_Harvey was flabbergasted. He didn't really want to hurt Barbara, but part of him was enraged as he realized she was also responsible for Rachel's death. He had trusted her, he though of her as a friend._

_Harvey finally let go of the boy who staggered towards his mother. Then Dent aimed the gun at Barbara._

"_Alright." It was all he said as he flipped the coin._

_--_

Closing her eyes, Barbara remembered her thoughts at that moment. The fear of death, of never seeing her family again, of never seeing Bruce again…

"Bruce."

--

Bruce turned around, he could have sworn he heard Barbara whisper his name. Was she thinking about him? When he had confessed his feelings for her, she hadn't responded which at the time led him to believe that his feelings were one-sided. That perhaps Barbara was interested in some else like that detective, Grayson, who had seemed so at home with the Gordons. But then again, Barbara always smile when she saw him. She would laugh at his jokes and talk to him about things she couldn't tell her dad. And here she was in a old burned down warehouse with his alter ego, whispering his name like an important secret, like a reminder to herself. Maybe his feelings were reciprocated.

_But then you'll have to tell her the truth, Bruce. If you really love her you'll have to tell her. _

His conscience was right, how could he ever expect to start a life with Barbara if there were secrets between them. But could he really trust her with something this big.

_Of course you can. After all she is Jim Gordon's daughter._

He smiled at his own response before approaching the young woman slowly. "Are you alright?" He asked putting a hand around her shoulder.

The redhead nodded as she turned around to face him. She wiped the tears off her face with her sleeves.

"I'm fine just…this place brings a lot of memories."

Looking around the building she kept speaking; "Rachel died here…She must have felt…so alone."

Bruce frowned, he remembered Rachel's death all to well. He remembered how the Joker had tricked him as he switched Harvey and Rachel's locations. Because the Joker knew how much Rachel had meant to him, he knew that Rachel could be either his or Harvey's breaking point. And he had been right, her death had sent Dent to a dark abyss of which there was no return.

"You knew her, didn't you?" You knew Rachel?"

The question caught him off guard and he stared at the redhead with confusion and alarm.

"I…No." He denied as he turned away from the woman in front of him.

"You're lying." She said as she watched him turn away from her.

She muttered; "You're a bad liar."

--

_Of course I knew her Babs. I loved her._

"Tell me the truth, please."

He sighed and turned to face her again.

"Yes, I knew Rachel."

Her initial response to his answer was to smile so she did.

"Did you love her?"

"Very much."

Barbara's smile got wider and she did something unexpected, she hugged the vigilante tightly.

"I miss her." She said, she didn't sound sad, only melancholic.

"Me too." Bruce whispered as he put his chin atop of her head and closed his eyes as he remembered Rachel's smile and the way that her lips felt against his own.

"She's in a better place now." Barbara told him, her voice soothing away his sorrows. It reminded him of his mother and the way she would speak to him whenever he was upset. The way she would smile at him. Her blonde hair like a halo as the sun reflected off of it, her red lips stretching to reveal her beautiful smile. A smile Bruce would never forget.

"Yeah, she is." He responded and he didn't know if he was talking about Rachel or about his mother, and then he realized he was talking about both.

Two women he had loved were dead, but he still had Barbara. Apart from Alfred, she was the most important person in his world and eventually he would tell her the truth, but not now. Not yet.

-

-----------------------

-

"So technically you got you're ass kicked by the Bat."

Harvey growled as The Joker spoke. The clown's tone was a mocking one, his grin stretched across his face giving him a creepy effect.

--

Harley laughed out loud before she saw the nasty look that Dent gave her. If looks could kill she would have died on the spot.

She stopped laughing and began to whistle innocently.

Two Face's eyes traveled from Quinn back to the Joker, who was currently sitting comfortably on the couch in the apartment's dirty living room.

"Yes, I guess you could say he did." He responded surprisingly calmly.

After months of enduring the Joker's taunting in Arkham, and having to follow the man's ridiculous commands once they escaped, he had gotten used to the other man's twisted sense of humor.

Harley Quinn however, she was another story.

That woman just had a way of getting on his nerves. It wasn't just now that she was Harley Quinn, but she had gotten on his nerves before when she was just plain little Harleen Quinzel. Back then she had been arrogant, selfish, and almost sadistic in her questioning approach.

He learn to both hate and in a way care for her. The Joker didn't care about Quinzel, she was just a new shiny toy, he would get tired of her eventually and then he would dispose of her.

Harley Quinn was annoying and yet she was also the only company he had apart from the Joker. The Joker would sometimes leave them alone for long periods of time to do whatever it is he did, and they would have no other choice then to socialize with each other which really meant insulting one another and having shouting matches.

--

The Joker interrupted Harvey's thoughts as he began to speak again.

"Well, we're going to have to come up with another plan…" Then he stopped smirking as his eyes lit up, like he had just thought of something brilliant.

Harley smiled as she saw the look of glee that shone on her beloved Mr. J's eyes, while Harvey's already existing frown deepened.

"What?"

"The Riddler."

--

Reviews will be awarded...Not really they won't, but there appreciated.


	22. Passion

**AN: Sorry for the long wait, but you all know how I roll. I'm actually writing another fanfic now so that's why I might take some more time updating this one, but don't worry I'm not abandoning this fic ever and whenever I can I will update. If you want to know about my new fanfic, I'll give you details later. It's another superhero fic, but it's not Batman...It might surprise a few cause it has fantasy elements and it's going to be really different from this one. Check my profile if you want more info on my new fanfic. **

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**Chapter Twenty-one**

**Passion**

**-----**

The man in the green suit sat with his legs crossed twirling his cane as he listened to the madman sitting in front of him speak.

"…do you understand where I'm coming from? We criminals got to stick together." The Joker finished smacking his lips and smiling at the other criminal.

The Riddle returned the smile. Despite the fact that as a psychiatrist he was repulsed by the Joker's ideas about humanity he couldn't judge the other man, after all he had murdered as well even though he had different reasons for committing his crimes.

"Yes, I understand. You're right we do have to stick together. You want Gordon and the Batman, and I want Wayne and Fox. We both have our targets."

The Joker laughed and edged closer to the other man. Nygma backed away as the other man got closer to him.

"See…We are very similar, you and I. You just haven't realized it yet, doc. Now I can get you Fox, but Wayne is mine."

The Riddler cocked an eyebrow curiously. What could the Joker possibly want with Bruce Wayne?

"Why do you want Wayne?"

"That rich boy, he's close to the rodent and I need him if I'm going to catch the Batman."

Curious…Very curious indeed. Edward would have never guessed that pretty boy Wayne was involved with the Bat. But that would explain things, after all Batman had a lot of expensive equipment. Equipment that probably cost thousands if not millions to make. If the vigilante had made an arrangement with Wayne it would explain why Batman could afford all the expensive equipment he used to catch the criminals of Gotham.

"That explains a lot." Edward concluded before glancing back at the Joker.

He shrunk in his chair further when he noticed that the Joker's face was inches away from his own. The other man was staring intensively at him as if he were trying to read his thoughts.

"Do you mind?"

"Oh, sorry." The Joker said giving the other man his famous smirk as he backed away and returned to his chair.

The Riddler went back to his thoughts. He really wanted to exact his revenge upon Wayne, but then again he couldn't get around Gordon and his flunkies unless he had the Joker's help. After all, the only person the GPD wanted more than him was the Joker.

Sighing deeply the green clad criminal spoke. "Alright, you can have Wayne, but you have to get Gordon of my back."

The Joker chuckled. "Don't worry, buddy. I'm good with distractions."

------------

Barbara lay in bed her thoughts filled with the Batman. All she could think about was him and Bruce. She wanted to tell Bruce she loved him. That she cared about him. That she need him.

She thought about his lips against her own, about his lips against her skin. About the way their bodies would feel like rubbed against each other naked.

Babs chuckled and blushed. She was acting like a hormonal teenager, but she couldn't help it. She hadn't had sex in a while and every time she was close to Bruce, or the Batman or even Det. Grayson she felt herself growing warm and giddy. She wanted to feel another body against her own, that incredible warmth they emited. She yearned for it.

-----------

Currently Bruce Wayne was taking a cold shower. He had tried going to sleep, but his dreams had featured the one and only Barbara Gordon, Jr.

The dreams had been arousing to say the least which is why he was now taking a cold shower.

His dreams had been plagued by creamy white skin, lush lips, vibrant red hair and vivid green eyes. He wished the activities that took place in his dream weren't just that, he wished they were real not fantasy.

He knew that his feelings for Barbara were reciprocated, but he knew that their chances of been together were slim after all there was the whole secret identity thing that came with being a masked vigilante. He would eventually have to tell Babs and the more he waited the more he knew it would affect him in the long run.

But how would she take it? His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a loud beeping. After a couple of seconds he realized it was the bell ringing.

_A visitor? At this hour? _He mentally asked himself as he tried to guess who could be at his door at this time of night.

He had no choice, but to get out of the shower. He had given Alfred the night off. The older man had been asking for some time off for a while now and Bruce finally caved. He decided to give the old man a present and got him a balcony all to himself at the Gotham Metropolitan Theater where Alfred's favorite opera _Don Giovanni_ was playing that same night.

Bruce didn't mind, the older man deserved some time off.

He turned the nozzle off and exited the shower stall quickly wrapping a towel around his waist as he did so.

He approached the intercom warily knowing that there was more than one killer on the loose gunning for him.

"Who is it?"

"_It's me, Babs."_

Bruce sighed, closing his eyes and resting his forehead upon the wall. Just what he needed. It's not that he didn't want to see Barbara. After all he was in love with her, but that was just the problem. Having to look at her and not able to take her in his arms and kiss her was too much for him to take.

"Come in." He said as he let her in.

When she stepped inside his condo she looked beautiful as always. Her hair was down; she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She had no make up on and she didn't need any. She looked amazing even with normal clothes and absolutely no make up.

Barbara's eyes widened when she noticed that he was only wearing a towel. He was glistening with water, his hair wet and falling onto his eyes. He looked strangely enough beautiful, but in a masculine way. She didn't know how to express it. Handsome just didn't cut it.

"Ah…Did I come in a bad time?" She asked nervously as she looked around wondering where Alfred was.

"No, it's fine." Bruce responded chuckling.

"Alfred is at the Metropolitan." He continued when he noticed she had been searching for his butler.

Babs nodded. It was like he had read her mind. He knew her so well that it wasn't even funny. The only person who probably knew her better was her father.

"Oh, yeah. I heard that Don Giovanni was playing. It doesn't surprise me; Alfred seems like an opera man."

Bruce smiled. "Yeah, my dad used to be one back when he was alive, too. I…I can't really tolerate it anymore." He told her, the smile covering his face fading slightly as he briefly remembered the night of his parents' death.

When Babs watched Bruce become uneasy she remembered that how his parents had died and where they had been before dying.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. It's fine." Bruce said interrupting the redhead.

He approached her as he caressed her hair. She closed her eyes when his hand moved down to her cheek.

Her breath hitched and she spoke without thinking.

"I'm in love with you." She said truthfully.

Bruce's eyes widened in astonishment. He had told her the same a couple of days ago, and even though she hadn't responded then hearing it from her lips now confirmed his long held suspicions, that his feelings were indeed reciprocated.

She opened her eyes to see Bruce's reaction to her confession. His chocolate brown eyes were full of light and love, and suddenly Barbara didn't feel afraid of rejection anymore.

He took her face in both his hands and pressed his lips to hers. It was their second kiss, and felt amazing. It surpassed the first.

After a couple of seconds she felt his tongue against her lower lip. She gasped and his tongue entered her mouth colliding with her own.

She put her hands around his shoulders pulling his body closer to hers.

After a couple of minutes things began to get too heated.

"We don't have to do anything if you don't want to…" He whispered against her lips after breaking another of their passionate kisses.

She interrupted him, but not with words. She cut him off as she giving a peck on the lips.

"I do." She replied smiling widely.

Bruce smiled back and kissed her again before moving their activities to Bruce's bedroom.

-----------

When Babs awoke in the morning the next day she noticed that she was not lying in her bed. She was in Bruce's bed and it was Bruce's comatose body that was lying next to her own.

She was also naked. They had sex…Oh my God… Sex. Now he was probably going to think she was a total slut. Sure they had been friends for some time now, but they hadn't even gone out on a formal date.

Babs began to get out of the bed, but Bruce stopped her as he wrapped one arm around her waist.

"No, you're not escaping that easily." He told her giving her a sleepy smile.

"I thought you were asleep."

"I was." He replied and thanked his good reflexes. Without them he wouldn't have felt the bed moving ever so slightly and he wouldn't of had been able to stop the woman he loved from leaving.

"Were you leaving?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, I just thought that you'd think I'm a slut and…"

He cut her off kissing her lightly before speaking.

"I don't think you're a slut." He told her as he kissed her.

"But we haven't even had a first date."

He laughed. "That doesn't matter. I love you, you love me. That's all that matters."

Barbara chuckled and kissed Bruce again.

"So are we like dating?"

"I think we are past that stage." The billionaire responded.

"Then am I your girlfriend?" Babs asked teasingly.

Bruce thought for a couple of seconds before responding. "Yeah, I guess so."

----

They finally got together...Wow, even I thought that was never gonna happen. Reviews will be awarded with chicken tetrazzini.


	23. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Okay first of all sorry for not updating, but a lot of things have happened to me this year,

first, my computer died and I had no access to any of my documents.

Second, I got sick with swine flu so I was in the hospital for awhile.

And to make matters worse my grandfather died so I've been dealing with that too.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my fic and everyone who has waited patiently.

I will update as soon as I can.


	24. The Future

**AN: Okay some of you might be confused by this chapter. Okay like the title says it takes place in the future, instead of a flashback, it's a flashforward. Don't worry the next chapter takes place in the present. **

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**Chapter 23**

**The Future**

**----**

_Her eyes opened slowly. The sun light creeping from the windows began to hurt her eyes. The redhead surveyed __her surroundings for the first time. _

_The room was white and bleak, the dingy mattress she was currently lying on was uncomfortable to say the least. The fabric of the bed sheets was gray and itchy. Everything about her new living arrangements made her feel more depressed than she already was. _

"_Well look who decided to wake up."_

_No, that couldn't be. Barbara thought as she turned her head towards the voice. Her worst fears were confirmed when she turned to face a blonde with hazel green eyes. _

"_Harley." _

"_The one and only." The blonde responded with gleeful satisfaction. _

"_But Dr. Rover said..."_

"_Oh, he said he was going to keep you safe from the big bad wolf, well he got sacked yesterday, so I'm afraid he doesn't have much authority anymore."_

_Rover got fired. But that couldn't be. He was the best director Arkham had ever had. How had could this happen? Why?_

"_Why?" _

"_Well I guess they found out about your little affair." Harley said as she laughed._

_Barbara's eyes widened in shock. "Affair? We weren't having an affair." _

_Which was half the truth. Anybody with half a brain could see that Rover was clearly interested in her. Perhaps his special attention towards the redhead was not professional, but nothing had happened. Rover had always respected her, as a patient and as a woman. _

"_Well even if that is true, that's what everybody else thinks." _

_Rover got fired because of her. Guilt began pooling up in Barbara's belly. It was all her fault._

_But one emotion outweighed guilt...fear. _

_Now that Rover was gone she was within the Joker's grasp. _

_The door to their adjoined bedroom opened abruptly interrupting Barbara's thoughts. A burly woman wearing blue scrubs entered. _

"_Time to get out of bed ladies." The nurse said, her voice rough and void of any empathy. _

_Harley huffed in annoyance before standing up and following the burly nurse. Barbara followed the blonde unsure of were they were heading. Once they were outside of their cell a guard proceeded to put handcuffs on both of them. Thankfully the handcuffs were separated by a chain which made movement easier. _

_After that they were taken to a spacious open room that resembled a lounging area. There were a few other inmates. They were in the same situation as Babs and Harley. Barbara didn't recognize the majority of the inmates except for Jonathan Crane, the former head of Arkham who seemed to be busy staring at the ceiling with an odd childlike fascination._

"_Come on." Harley said impatiently as she tugged the redhead's sleeve pulling her towards Crane's table._

_They sat in front of Crane who barely acknowledged them. _

"_Scarecrow...Scarecrow..." The blonde whispered softly until Crane's gaze drifted towards her. He gave her a smirk which she returned. _

"_Harley Quinn."_

_Then he turned his gaze to Barbara. She shivered as his blue eyes penetrated her own. His stare was calculating and unemotional. And even though he was now a patient it was clear that Crane still had a psychiatrist's mentality. _

"_This is Barbara..."_

"_I know who she is." He interrupted the blonde giving her a cold stare. It was clear that he viewed Quinzel as being inferior to him. _

_The former physician turned his cold blue gaze back to Barbara. _

"_You killed a man." _

_Barbara's eyes filled up with tears. She did kill a man, that was the whole reason why she was here. _

"_Yes." _

"_Why did you do it?"_

_Why? The answer was simple retribution, revenge, getting even, whatever you wanna call it. Before Barbara could answer, their conversation was interrupted by an older nurse._

"_That's enough Crane. You know you're not allowed to analyze other patients." _

_Crane frowned giving the nurse a mean look before slumping in his chair and turning his attention back to the ceiling again. _

"_Oh, Peri. Don't be such a wet blanket."_

_The nurse, or Peri as Harley had called her gave the blonde a stern look before turning to Barbara. _

"_Gordon come with me. You have a visitor."_

_Babs' eyes widened. A visitor._

_Peri grabbed a hold of Barbara's arm and dragged her off into the hall and into another room. It resembled an interrogation room except without the two way mirrors. _

"_Dad." The shocked redhead whispered as her gaze landed on her father. He enveloped her in a hug which unfortunately she couldn't return because of the handcuffs. _

_He broke the embrace after a couple of seconds and took her face in his hands. _

"_Are you alright?"_

_Barbara shook her head. "Dad, it's not true what they say about me and Rover."_

"_I know, baby. I know." He kissed both her cheeks his eyes becoming glassy. _

"_I'm going to get you out of here, I promise."_

"_I'm sorry, but time's up." Peri said grabbing Babs' arm and pulling her away from her father. _

_James kissed Barbara's forehead before she was dragged off the room. _

"_I promise I'm gonna get you out of here!"_

_As the nurse dragged Barbara back to her room she began to struggle. She was able to escape the nurse's grasp and began to run. _

"_Let me go! Dad!" _

_Two guards came running after her and apprehending the redhead and dragging her roughly into a nearby room where they restrained her to a bed. _

"_No, please let me go! Don't leave me here!" She begged the guards, but they ignored her pleas. _

_The metal closed with a thud. Barbara struggled against the restrains, but it was futile._

"_Dad!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "Dad, please! Daddy! Help me!" She cried out, but no response came. _

_She began to sob. She deserved this. She was a murderer. She had killed someone. _

_Her father couldn't save her from this hell neither could Batman or Dick. Nobody could save her. She was alone. _


	25. Surprise!

**Author's note: This is a very short chapter, but there's another one coming up. And that one's going to be longer. This is my senior year so between finals, the SAT, and college admissions so I've been very busy. I'll try to update as soon as I can. **

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**Chapter 24**

**Surprise!**

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The redhead sighed contently as she snuggled up with her companion. The silk sheets felt great against her naked skin. Barbara moaned as Bruce's fingers caressed her scalp.

"Your awake?"

She only murmured an incoherent response which was a mixture of gasp and a moan as Bruce's fingers found her weak spot. The skin behind her ears had always been especially sensitive.

"Stop that."

"I'll take that as a yes." The billionaire said as he stood from the bed.

He kissed his girlfriend's cheek before walking towards the bathroom. Barbara stretched before she glanced at the digital clock.

"Damn it, I'm late."

She wrapped a sheet around her naked form before going to the bathroom. She knocked the door hastily.

"C'mon Bruce, hurry up. I'm late for work."

The door opened and the billionaire stepped out wearing his usual business suit. His hair was combed neatly and still wet from the shower he had just taken. Barbara marveled at that, she always took a minimum of thirty minutes in the shower. He kissed her nose gently.

"I love you."

She giggled, and almost slapped herself for doing so. There was something about Bruce that made her feel like a teenage girl sometimes.

"I love you, too." She mimicked him, kissing his nose as he had done to her seconds earlier. He grimaced in mock disgust before taking a more serious look.

"Barbara I need to tell you something."

"Well can you tell me after I take a shower."

Bruce frowned, his shoulders slumping in disappointment. "Forget it. It was nothing important."

Barbara sighed. She hadn't meant to upset him, but she clearly had. Whatever he had to tell her was evidently important. "I'm sorry, but I'm late for work. Can you tell me later?"

That seemed to lighten his spirit. "Alright. How 'bout later tonight."

"Great." She kissed him again this time square on the mouth. Shee lingered as she savored the taste of his lips before moving into the bathroom.

Nothing Barbara did that day could take her mind of Bruce. She wondered what he had been meaning to tell her that morning. What was he going to tell her? Did he have some incurable disease? Was he going to break up with her? Was going to propose?

_C'mon Babs, you're being ridiculous. _She thought shaking her head. Or was she? She tried to keep her mind busy. Which wasn't hard, the new DA, April Gillespie was keeping her busy with all kinds of paper work. But even her work couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to Bruce.

That night when she went back to Bruce's penthouse she couldn't help, but be extremely nervous. She was shaking from anticipation, from nerves, from fright.

When she saw Bruce smiling softly sitting in his bed waiting for her all those emotions disappeared.

"Hey." She whispered softly sitting next to him.

"So what's this you have to tell me?"

She noticed a drastic change in Bruce. His smile disappeared and his eyes hardened.

"I...I'm Batman."

..........

"What?!"


	26. The Cat is Out of the Bag

**Author's Note: Well here's the other chapter. There's a lot of stuff going on in this one. Also the first part is Barbara's POV. I think I've gotten much better writing first person POV, so I decided to give it another go. **

**Hope you enjoy it. Remember to review.

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**Chapter 25**

**The Cat is Out of the Bag**

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**Barbara's POV**

Bruce is Batman. Bruce is Batman. Bruce is Batman.

No that can't be. It's not possible. I just can't believe it. Maybe I don't want to believe it.

Bruce is staring at me anxiously waiting for my response. What am I suppose to do? How am I suppose to respond to this. Am I suppose to say that's great honey, how was your day today? Did you kick some ass today?

Is he joking? No, he looks serious, and I know Bruce well enough to know he's not the joking type. He doesn't do charades. Bruce is always straight and to the point, I guess that's why we get along so well.

Bruce is still waiting so I say the first thing that comes into my mind.

"What?!"

Bruce doesn't react at first he just stares at me while I wait for him to say something. Say it again. Say it again. I have to know. Are you really Batman? Say it again. Please I have to know. I have to know I didn't imagine what I just heard.

"I'm Batman, Barbara. I've always been Batman." His eyes are so honest, and I know he's telling me the truth. I can't breathe. I can't even blink. There's nothing to say. I can only hope that what he's telling me is false because I can't deal with this right now. After everything I've gone through, now it turns out my boyfriend is secretly a masked vigilante who beats criminals to a bloody pulp with his bare hands.

Bruce looks disappointed, like he expected me to react differently. Well what did he expect, I'm not Rachel....

Rachel knew.

"Rachel knew, didn't she?" I ask, but I already know the answer.

He nods and it all makes sense now. Why Rachel acted the way she acted around him, the way she spoke about Batman, with such intimacy. She knew. I wonder how she reacted when she found out. She was probably a lot more calm than I am. Knowing her she probably figured it out by herself. Rachel had always been so much smarter than me. I had always been so jealous of her because of that, because she was brave, and smart, calm and collected. She was all the things I wasn't.

I wish she were here now. I wish I could talk to her, tell her how I'm feeling. She'd understand what I'm going through, she went through it too. I wonder if that's the reason why she left Bruce.

"I have to go." I say standing up. I need fresh air, I need to be alone for awhile. Think things over.

Bruce looks scared, not frightened scared, but apprehensive.

I kiss him quickly reassuring him and myself that I still love him, and this revelation doesn't change how I feel about him. I don't think anything can change how I feel about him?

"I just need to think, okay?"

He nods and kisses me again.

I leave the condo. My mind feels like it's going to explode. I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't pretend I'm completely okay with what he's doing. He's putting his life in danger, and I know it's for the right reason, but I can't help, but worry. I don't want to lose him. I care too much about him. I've lost too many people I love.

Then I think of the many times Batman saved my life, and it makes me smile knowing it was Bruce who saved my life. Not Batman. Bruce. It made sense now, why Batman always seemed to know when I was in trouble. Why a masked man I barely knew cared so much? It was always Bruce. He was the one saving me, not Batman.

"Barbara!"

I turn around towards the direction of the voice. It's not Bruce like I'd hoped it would be.

Detective Grayson is standing in front of me smiling and I can't, but smile as well despite the way I'm feeling. I can't help it, his smile is contagious. There was something about Dick that is just so welcoming. He's just a nice guy.

"Hey." He kisses my cheek, and I do the same.

"Hey, yourself. What are you doing here?"

"Coffee." He says motioning to the fuming Styrofoam cup in his right hand.

"Oh, yeah. Of course... How is the case going?"

The smile disappears from his face, and suddenly he looks a lot more serious. Not boyish, or cute. He looks like a cop. I know he doesn't like talking about the Riddler, neither do I, but part of me wants to focus on something else besides the whole Batman/Bruce business.

"Bad...We have no whereabouts. It's like he disappeared, but we know he hasn't he's still out there."

"What about the Joker?" I see Dick flinch. The Joker is a sensitive topic for all of us, even those who haven't been personally victimize by him have been scarred by his exploits. I don't fear him anymore. I mean I'm going to lie I am afraid of what he's capable of, but I'm not afraid of him personally.

I had always thought of the Joker as the Bogeyman. Like he wasn't human, like he was a monster, a legend, a mythical creature. He didn't seem human.

But he was, human like the Riddler. There had to be a reason to his madness.

I couldn't let fear rule my life forever. If there is one good thing that came out of those horrible sessions with Nygma, is that I learned fear is just an emotion. And like any emotion it can be controlled.

"We don't know anything. We're trying to keep it on the down low, but you know how it is. The police starts doing things, people get suspicious."

I nod. "Yeah, I know. Hopefully you guys can catch him before he does something really stupid like killing someone."

"Yeah, that's the plan."

A loud noise, like a bomb going off interrupts the conversation. I fall to the ground as I feel a gush of dust and wind coming at me.

My ears are buzzing. I stand up slowly trying to regain my balance. Dick is on the ground as well. I extend my hand as I help him get up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, are you?"

I nod. I seem to be fine. Except for this dreadful buzzing in my ears. I look around there's people on the ground everywhere. Cars are turned over, hell even a fire hydrant broke leaving the street flooded with water. It looks like a scene from a movie. Dust and debris everywhere.

The buzzing stops and suddenly my ears are assaulted by another kind of noise. Yelling, screaming, crying. Complete panic.

"Where did that come from?"

"There." He says pointing to a building a couple of feet away from us.

"What building is that?" I ask before I can register. I know that building. Everyone knows that building, that's the New City Hall, that's where the Major's offices are located. That's where the District Attorney works, that's where I work.

"That's city hall." Shit...

The Joker, it has to be him. He's the only one ballsy enough to do something like this.

The building looks intact. It looks like the bomb was place outside. Near the lobby.

"The Joker..."

Dick looks confused. I look him straight in the eyes and I say it again.

"The Joker did this."

------------

**Third Person POV**

"The bomb has been planted."

"Then we need to strike. Fast."

The man with the painted smile laughed. "Aww, Riddly. Don't you think you're taking this whole revenge thing a little to seriously. C'mon have some fun!"

The Riddler clearly wasn't amused by the Joker's antics. Frankly he just wanted to end this. He wanted to kill Fox and get it over with. He wished he could kill that pretty boy Wayne, but alas it seemed the Joker had plans of his own for the billionaire.

"When the bomb goes off, we strike at Wayne. And then we kill Fox."

"What's all this about we? You have your plans, I have mine, and mine involve the Batman." The Joker said, his face breaking into a huge grin. Just thinking about bat boy made him all tingly inside. He was just dying to play with his good ole buddy. He wondered if the big rodent had missed him as much as he had.

"We had a deal, you promised to help me." The Riddler protested. This wasn't part of the plan! They were suppose to act together.

"Yes, and the deal was I'd get the Commissioner off your back." Before the Riddler could protest the Joker walked off leaving the other man to ponder his choices. He'd either strike alone and get Fox, and possibly get caught, or do nothing. Well, the latter was out of the question.

_----------_

"So where are we going?" The former District Attorney asked, an ugly scowl adorning the unmarred side of his face. He hated taking orders from the Joker, but he really had no other choice.

The man in the purple suit grinned wickedly before rubbing his purple leather gloves together.

"We are going to pay a visit to our favorite rodent."

Harvey's eyes widened. He couldn't mean the Batman.

"You mean Batman? Are you insane?!"

He had to be crazy, that was a suicide mission.

The Joker nodded his grin becoming even wider, if that was even possible. Harley Quinn giggled and clapped her hands excitedly.

"This is so exciting!"

"Shut up!" Harvey screamed. Honestly Harley was really starting to get into his last nerve. She'd always had a way of getting under his skin even when she wasn't bat shit crazy.

"You shut up!" She yelled back with as much ferocity. She was getting tired of Harvey always putting her down and bullying her.

The Joker growled. "You both shut up!" As amused as he was by their childish bickering, sometimes it did get rather annoying.

Harvey and Harley glared at each other, hatred glimmering in both their eyes. Harley crossed her arms and huffed before turning her back to both men. Harvey grind his teeth down as he tried to control his anger. Really there was nothing more he'd rather do than choke the life out of her body, but unfortunately for him he couldn't.

"You know where the Batman lives?" Dent inquired addressing the Joker.

The madman nodded feeling giddy. He just couldn't help himself, he was bursting with delight. He had been waiting so long for this, and now finally it was happening.

There was only one way that the Joker could know where the Batman lived. Harvey's eyes widened dramatically.

"You know who he is, don't you?"

Even Harley Quinn, who had been ignoring them up until that moment, looked curious as she turned towards them again. She wasn't going to lie, she had always been interested in the Batman even before the Joker entered her life. As a psychologist she simply found him fascinating.

"Who is he?" She asked daringly.

The Joker stroked her hair before whispering one name in her ear.

"Bruce Wayne."

----------------

Barbara tried to make sense of what was happening. She was sure the Joker had planted the bomb, but why? What was his motive? What was he planning?

"This isn't right."

Dick turned towards her. "What do you mean?"

"He wouldn't do something like this. It's not like him."

She didn't know how to explain it, how could she? She felt like she knew the Joker well enough by now that she knew what he was going to do. But what was he planning?

This was a distraction, it had to be.

_Think Barbara, what does the Joker want?_

_Batman_

Gasping she tugged Dick's sleeve.

"C'mon! We have to get to Bruce's apartment!" She said pulling him back towards Bruce's apartment building.

If she was right, which she was sure she was. Then Bruce was in trouble.

------------


	27. The Confrontation

**AN: Wow, it's been a long time. I honestly thought I wasn't going to finish this story... The inspiration just wasn't there anymore, but I guess like a lot of writers I just need some time to think. And my muse is back... Sorry for not updating in such a long time, but I've been busy. This is a long update because I felt so bad for letting you guys wait so long so I decided to make it longer and add some more stuff. I already have the other chapter written as well. I'll probably post it tomorrow or saturday after I'm done proof reading it and editing it.**

**Thanks for your patience and remember to review afterward. **

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Chapter 26

Confrontation

The first thing she noticed when she stepped into the lobby of Wayne Plaza. The receptionist wasn't there, neither was the security guard. It was quiet, too quiet.

"There's nobody here." Richard exclaimed almost in disbelief.

After all it was a 40 story apartment building. Where were all the tenants? The visitors? Guards? It seemed too strange to fathom.

Barbara ran to the elevators pushing the buttons, but nothing. The button didn't light up like it usually did. The elevator doors didn't open. She moved and pressed the other buttons, nothing.

"The elevators aren't working." She said before moving back to the reception counter. She stepped to the side and gasped. On the other side of the counter laid the receptionist on the floor, blood pooling around her body coming from a nasty slash to the throat.

Babs covered her mouth with one hand as the smell of copper filled her nostrils.

"Dick!" She screamed his name in horror as she moved away from the body.

Dick's eyes widened when he saw the body. His hand immediately reached into his pocket grasping his cellphone. "I'm gonna call backup."

Babs turned to him, her hand covering his own. "Don't."

"What are you talking about? We need backup we can't go up there by ourselves we'll get killed!"

Babs believe every word Dick said, but she just couldn't risk Bruce...or more precisely Batman's identity being exposed.

"Please trust me."

Dick wanted to protest further that this was a suicide mission, which it was. First they didn't know how many of Joker's cronies were in the building or what kind of weapons they hand, but one look into Babs' green eyes and Dick relented.

"Fine, but if they got machine guns we might as well lay dead." There was no humor in his statement because it was mainly true.

"Here take this." The detective said handing the redhead a small revolver before withdrawing his own gun.

"Thanks." She said uneasily. She didn't like guns, never had. Her father had taken her to a shooting range when she was a teenager. She remembered the heavyness of the gun on her hand. The incredible force that knocked her to the floor when she pulled the trigger. Needless to say it wasn't the character building experience her father envisioned.

"C'mon. It's this way." She said grasping Dick's arm and pulling him towards the stairs' entrance.

After the first twenty flight of stairs Barbara's legs started to ache. She still wasn't used to so much movement. She almost fell, but thankfully Dick caught her before she collided with the floor.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concern evident on his voice.

"Yeah, it's my legs their not use to so much movement. I'm fine, you can let me go now."

Dick let her go abruptly. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity for both Babs and Dick they reached their destination. Dick went first gun drawn. Barbara followed.

"Why would the Joker attack Wayne?" Det. Grayson whispered to Babs.

Barbara wanted desperately to tell Dick the truth, but she couldn't betray Bruce like that even if she trusted Dick. After all it wasn't her secret to tell and Bruce had trusted her to keep it.

"Just trust me, okay." She whispered back before heading into the kitchen.

There was broken glass all over the floor.

"Get behind me." Dick said urgently. Barbara wanted to argue that she could take care of herself. After all she had faced the Joker alone many times before and she had lived to tell the tale then again many of those times Batman... Bruce had been there to save her ass.

Instead she relented and did as she was told drawing her gun immediately and taking off the safety. They headed to Bruce's bedroom only to find a ghastly sight waiting for them.

Barbara gasped in horror, she quickly covered her mouth to make sure the intruders didn't hear her.

Bruce was standing on a chair a noose hanging around his neck. He was shirtless and there were bruises all around his abdominal area, as well as his arms and his torso. His hands were tied around his back and there was duck tape on his mouth.

Harley Quinn sat on the bed. A diabolical grin on her mouth as she stared at the helpless billionaire. Harvey was also there, but the Joker was nowhere in sight.

Dick pulled Barbara back before her Wayne's captors could see her.

"We have to call backup."

"No...While we wait for backup they'll kill him."

She tried to go back to save Bruce, but Dick pulled her back again.

"You'll get yourself killed."

Using all her strength Barbara pulled herself out of Dick's grip and stepped into the room gun drawn.

"Let him go!" She shouted angrily. She didn't know where all this new found bravery had come from, and she didn't care. All that mattered was Bruce's safety.

Harley and Harvey turned almost as soon as she stepped into the room. Harley had a small pistol and Harvey had a shotgun. They were both aiming straight at her. Harvey hesitated when he recognized her. Barbara could see it in his eyes and in the way his arms trembled slightly.

"Barbara, what are you doing here?" Harvey asked glancing at Harley to make sure she didn't fire.

Babs refused to acknowledge him. If he wanted to work with the Joker, if he wanted to stoop to his level so be it.

"I said let him go!" She repeated even louder this time.

Bruce gave her a pleading look. He didn't want her to risk his life for him. Babs ignored it. He had saved her countless of times, it was about time she did it for a change.

"Fuck you!" Harley yelled before shooting. Thankfully for Babs, Quinn had really bad aim. The bulled whizzed past Barbara's head and collided with the wall behind her.

Harvey turned towards Harley his shotgun aimed straight at her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harley asked, almost indignantly.

"Don't you ever shoot at her again or I'll shoot your fucking face off." He snarled back and the psychiatrist almost shrunk back before regaining her wits.

"Who's side are you on Two Face? Hers or Mr. Jay's?"

Harvey's gaze drifted from Harley to Barbara, and again, and again.

"I'm not on anyone's side." He said before turning back to Barbara.

"It's time." Harley said looking at her wristwatch. Barbara was ready to shoot her if she tried anything with Bruce, but curiously enough she didn't. The other woman stood up from the bed and exited the room not even bothering to look back.

Babs stared at her retreading form in confusion. When the other woman was gone she turned her gaze back to Harvey.

"Why did she leave?"

Harvey laughed. "You still don't get it, do you?"

"What?" She asked seriously. She really didn't understand what Dent was talking about. What kind of sick game was the Joker playing?

"You were suppose to find him. You came a little a earlier than expected, but the Joker said you would figure it out. He was right."

"It's strange how that psycho seems to know you so well."

Babs shook her head as if trying to denounce what Harvey was saying though part of her knew it was true. The Joker could pretty much read her thoughts the same way she could read his.

"He wants you Babs. He won't kill Wayne. You and I both know that. He wants you... He's gonna kill you."

Harvey approached her calmly until he was right in front of her.

"You wanna know what the scary part is. I actually think he hates you."

It was a scary thought indeed if the Joker felt that strongly about her. Hatred...The Joker didn't hate or love, he was an unemotional creature that just loved to mess with people's heads. He didn't do emotions, it wasn't his style. He felt a strong apathy towards everyone around him that was the only way he could do the things he did. If the Joker hated Babs then he simply wouldn't just kill her like he did with everyone else. He would destroy her.

"But before he kills you he wants you to suffer."

Harvey turned his gaze back to Bruce.

"You always get the pretty girls don't you?"

The other man just glared at him.

"Leave him alone."

"Why should I?" Harvey growled as he approached Babs.

"He's the reason Rachel is dead. Him and your father both. And now he's taken you. It's not fair."

Barbara's eyes widened. Was Harvey implying what she thought he was implying?

"What are you talking about?"

Harvey turned his gaze back to Babs. His eyes void of hatred and bitterness. It almost took Babs' breath away. He looked like the old Harvey, he looked like her friend.

"You still don't get it, do you? The reason why I can't... If Harley hadn't missed I would have killed her, do you know why? Because I love you... Because I lost Rachel, and I can't loose you."

Harvey was in love with her. Barbara shook her head and lowered her gun slightly. Two years ago those words would have made her so happy. Two years ago, she would have reciprocated his feelings...

But time had passed, things had changed drastically, and her love for him withered. She loved Bruce now and she doubted that she could bring herself to love any other man.

"I don't... I'm sorry, but you know I can't return your feelings."

Harvey nodded looking down at the floor before gazing back into her beautiful green eyes.

"I won't let him hurt you, Babs... I promise."

She knew he meant the Joker, but what she couldn't understand was why he was working with the madman.

"Turn yourself in Harvey, please. You what they'll do if they find you. They'll kill you."

She touched the unmarred side of his face, stroking his cheek gently. Her touch was warm and motherly and Harvey felt himself closing his eyes and savoring the feel of her skin against his own.

"I can't..." He withdrew himself from her touch and left with some much as saying another word.

Barbara blinked away the tears as she turned back to Bruce. She grabbed a chair and pushed it towards Bruce's direction. She climbed up and untied the noose around her boyfriend's neck before ripping the duck tape off.

"You could have gotten yourself killed." That was the first thing he said, not an I love you, thanks or even an I owe you.

Babs almost rolled her eyes and told him off, but she kissed him instead.

"What was I suppose to do? They could have killed you."

"You heard Dent, the Joker has no intention of killing me. He wants to drive me crazy, not kill me. It's you I'm worried about."

Babs knew he had heard everything Harvey had said intently.

"You need to stop worrying about me so much, Bruce."

"Well I wouldn't worry so much if you weren't such a psycho magnet."

Barbara laughed before embracing the man she loved.

* * *

Bruce was taken to the hospital by the paramedics. Barbara was taken to the police station were she was questioned by a police officer.

The police officer, Grubber, was a friend of her father's. He gave her a sympathetic smile before leaving to give his notes to another officer.

Babs sighed reclining against the chair and closing her eyes. She thought about Harvey and what he told her.

"We have to talk."

She opened her eyes only to find Richard standing in front of her with a stern look on his face.

"Alright." She said standing up and following him to his office.

Dick closed the door behind them as they entered his office.

"Did you know?" He asked angrily.

"Know what?" She responded defensively. She couldn't understand why Grayson was acting so rudely towards her.

"That Harvey Dent is alive."


End file.
